#'i can help subordinates control their abilities when the majority of my subordinates are severely traumatized kids'

[videogamelover99]

Guys what if Fukuzawa is just...fucking lying about having an ability?

[skarsgard-daydreams]

I really like the snippets of the SVMs that you post, but I can’t help but think about how by the end of the series Charlaine Harris just decided to destroy the character of Eric. I read those last few novels and just fumed with anger. Were you happy with how they turned out?

You are absolutely correct, anon. Was I happy with how they turned out? Absolutely not. I have a lot of bones to pick with Charlaine Harris about what she did to Eric Northman, but more importantly, I have a lot of bones to pick with Sookie.

Initially, I thought that the problem in the latter books was that Harris got lazy with everyone's characterization when she was contracted to write three more novels and started writing these characters in ways that were inconsistent. Certainly, there are a few instances where Eric is portrayed in a manner inconsistent with earlier books. (He loses a lot of his humor and charm and suddenly has a very different perspective on the possibility of turning Sookie, which I attribute to bad writing.) But as I went back in the series to compile these quotes, I noticed that the problems I had with Sookie's character in the latter books manifested much earlier. I have been trying so desperately to wrap my head around her behavior, and I have come to the following conclusions about Book Sookie, which are not necessarily applicable to TV Sookie...

(major spoilers and an unedited 4,000 word essay ahead)

Sookie's mind-reading abilities have stunted her ability to read and empathize with others without the use of her powers.

The magical bond that is formed when she and Eric exchange blood circumvents this while it is active, enabling Sookie to feel Eric’s emotions rolling off him at the time. She knows he is terrified when his maker arrives in book 10, and she is even able to identify precisely why he is frightened: he doesn’t want to be under someone else’s control. But after she severs their bond in book 11, her ability to read him fails her. She has spent her entire life reading people’s minds, which has served as a crutch. Rather than developing the intuitive ability to read a person’s body language and read between the lines of what they are saying that most of us learn, Sookie relies on her abilities, which don’t work on vampires. As a result, their motives are often mysteries to her. She notes how stony-faced they are, how carefully controlled they are in expression, but she misses a lot of cues that convey their repressed feelings. This is particularly bad for Eric, who, like many men, shields himself with anger when he is feeling hurt. His anger is not excessive or violent—in fact it is often very well controlled—but it masks the tender feelings that hide under the surface. It is telling that Sookie never acknowledges the incredible pain and betrayal that Eric must feel when she severs their blood bond, or when she ultimately refuses to save him from being taken away from her. The only time she feels sympathy toward him in that respect is in one line at the very end of the series where she considers how lonely he will be—and then she purposefully smothers that thought, refusing to dwell on it further.

Sookie's trauma from her formative relationship with Bill renders her suspicious of the motives of others and unable to trust her future partners.

Bill is the first man she ever dated, fell in love with, or had sex with, and it is revealed to her through Eric’s intervention that their entire relationship was premised on a lie. This plot point is the same in the book as it is in the TV show. Once Sookie and Eric are together, there are numerous instances where she suspects his motives. She maintains the firm belief that Eric never does anything unless it would be beneficial to himself, which is probably true up to a point, but even after he has shown that he is deeply in love with her and that he has borne the personal cost of this love, she still doubts him. In fact, Sookie believes that the love they seemingly share is only the result of the magical blood bond between them, which renders it false. Eric repeatedly states that he does not care why he loves her, only that he does, but this is a problem that Sookie cannot get past. It results in her severing their bond without warning. Once the bond is severed, she insists that she does still love him “all on her own” but her love quickly begins to erode without the understanding that the bond created as they are besieged by numerous calamities. When the final obstacle to their love presents itself—a contract negotiated by Eric’s maker that would force him to marry the vampire Queen of Oklahoma against his will—Sookie is so blinded by her inability to trust him that she doubts every word he says about wanting to stay with her. He never expresses a desire to leave her for the queen, but remains stalwart in his insistence that he cannot escape the contract despite seeking every possible loophole. Yet Sookie believes he is attracted to the queen and the power that she possesses and attributes his insistence that he is trapped in the contract to a clever lie designed to dupe her. In the final days of their relationship, Eric reveals that he knows Sookie could save him with a magical object that grants her one wish, and repeatedly insists that she could stop him from being taken from her if she wanted to. He does not ask her to do it, nor does he mention the object explicitly, or ask where it is. His statements read like a man who is wounded by his lover’s unwillingness to save him, but one who perhaps has too much dignity to resort to begging her to intervene. Presumably he believes that he should not have to beg the woman who says she loves him to save him from “cushy slavery,” as Sookie calls it. Once Sookie realizes that Eric knows about her magical deus ex machina, she starts to wonder if he really just wants to take it from her, or use it for himself. She even entertains the possibility that maybe he orchestrated the entire dilemma in order to get his hands on it. When the thought enters her head, she admits that she never would have considered such a thing if it weren’t for Bill’s betrayal of her.

Sookie's affection for Eric is conditional upon his usefulness to her (including as a sexual object), and she never develops an appreciation or understanding for who he is as a person.

Perhaps this is the fatal flaw in their relationship from the very beginning. Sookie does not express an interest in Eric other than the fact that he is physically attractive until his numerous favors to her and the many instances where he has saved her life or protected her begin to add up. The blood bond between them is formed when he prevents a vampire who has authority over him from forcing blood on an unwilling Sookie, instead offering his own blood as a substitute. Their marriage was orchestrated by Eric when another vampire wanted to take Sookie away from her own against her will, and it allows Eric to serve as a barrier to any other vampire who would try to harm her. Once their romantic relationship is formed in earnest, it quickly becomes evident that it is lopsided. Eric praises Sookie for her beauty, but also for how brave she is and how hard she works and countless other virtues that are not physical in nature. In return, Sookie feels obligated to pay him a compliment, and all she can manage is that he has a nice body and is good in bed. She often deflects from serious conversations with him to have sex instead. Sookie clearly doesn’t believe Eric is a good person, expressing her own doubts about his moral code when he doesn’t display enough outward moral repugnance for her liking. When Eric tells her how his boss tortured and killed a human woman to punish a vampire, she asks him how the story made him feel. His answer—that it made him fearful it could happen to Sookie—is not good enough for her because he does not also express remorse for the woman in question. (It should be noted that he doesn’t revel in her pain either; he is merely concerned with applying the moral of the story to his own circumstances and the woman that he loves.) Sookie does not seem to acknowledge the good that other people attribute to Eric, such as when his new bartender tells her she requested to come work for him. Sookie cannot imagine why anyone would want to work for Eric, but the vampire explains that he is a good master to serve because he treats his people well, specifically pointing out that he doesn’t ask for sexual favors from his female subordinates like other sheriffs do. Sookie is not interested in his life, his business, or his world. When he attempts to explain the elaborate hierarchy of vampire politics to her in an effort to include her more in his affairs, she outwardly expresses so much disinterest that Eric takes offense. Their relationship treads water for a while, until Sookie is kidnapped and tortured by fairies and Eric is prevented from rescuing her. While she is being tortured, Sookie is certain that Eric will show up at any moment, but she doesn’t know that he has been forbidden from intervening by his boss. The other vampires bind Eric in silver chains to keep him from going to save her. He later tells her how anguished he was that he could feel her pain and do nothing to protect her, shedding tears as he talks about it, but she doesn’t want to hear it. That moment marks a turning point in their relationship. Sookie repeatedly affirms that she believes Eric is so big and strong and capable of handling anything, and any time he is not able to deliver on her expectations, she loses even more love for him.

Sookie's prejudice against vampires leads to her treating them as though they are not people.

Although Sookie does not express her prejudice explicitly as some characters do, she still exhibits a bias against vampires throughout the books and expresses a clear preference for humans or shapeshifters. She is disgusted, for example, by Eric’s suggestion that she should come work at Fangtasia, saying that she would hate to watch the fangbangers seek the attention of the undead among them. She believes that they do not feel emotions or possess empathy in any comparable measure to humans. (The thought that not all humans share the same depth of emotion or empathy does not seem to occur to her.) She also discounts their physical pain or suffering because they possess the ability to heal themselves. This happens numerous times when Eric is wounded, often while trying to protect her. In one case, Eric shoves himself in front of a car window and takes a bullet intended for her point blank. While he is injured, he fights off the werewolf who was trying to kill Sookie. Then he gets back in the car and drives her home with the bullet still lodged inside his chest. When they arrive back at her house, he asks her for blood, saying explicitly that he is in pain as his body pushes the bullet out of his chest. She tells him he’ll be fine and if he really needs it, he should stop at Merlotte’s and get some True Blood on his way home. Another time, Sookie comes upon Eric after he has been badly beaten and bound with silver. His arm is broken and his hands, she notes, look gruesome, because the silver was wrapped around them. As soon as she frees him, he springs into action and decapitates the vampire who had attacked him before said vampire can go for Sookie, who gets faint at the sight. (She is not injured.) Eric picks her up even though his arm is broken, and she takes the opportunity to internally romanticize the moment, imagining that she is Scarlet O’Hara. But a short while later, she asks Sam to drive her home without thinking about offering Eric a bottle of True Blood even though they’re right in front of the bar. The most egregious example of this phenomenon occurs when Eric’s vampire brother has massacred all of the staff at his home. Sookie arrives to find several vampires and humans slaughtered on the premises while Eric is desolate and in excruciating pain with his ribs ripped through his chest. He tells her that he needs her to push his ribs back into place and that Pam was there as well, and Sookie proceeds to chastise him for not springing into action to go after his brother. When tears form in his eyes, she grows impatient and questions why he hasn’t called someone to come clean up yet. It isn’t until midway through the conversation that she tells Jason to push Eric’s ribs in so he can heal, and it is only on accident that Jason happens to find Pam, who is thankfully not dead.

Sookie's system of morals is so rigid that, when she participates in violence, she suppresses her own personal responsibility and projects blame on the people around her in order to continue believing that she is a good person.

After the massacre referenced in the paragraph above, Eric and Sookie must fight his crazed brother and several fairies at her house, slaying his maker in the process. When they are victorious, Sookie is immediately revolted by the bloodshed. Eric, meanwhile, is flooded with relief that he is free of his maker, who subjected him to hundreds of years of rape and slavery when he was first turned into a vampire. Sookie knows this, and in fact can feel the emotions radiating from him, but she seems to despise Eric for feeling anything but repugnance in that moment. This appears to be her coping strategy any time she participates in violence—she negates her own culpability and creates moral distance between herself and Eric by judging his reaction to be grotesque. The same thing happens when they are able to kill the brutally cruel vampire regent who was actively trying to ruin Eric and was responsible for attempts on Sookie’s life and who refused permission for Pam to turn her human lover into a vampire before she died. Eric and Pam are joyous that they have won and that the regent cannot torment them any longer. Sookie, who helped plan the attack and in fact dealt part of the killing blow to the regent, is abruptly disgusted when Eric embraces her and kisses her. It does not occur to her that he might be relieved that she was unharmed in the battle and that the constant threat to them all has been eliminated. Instead, she assumes that he’s trying to have sex with her and tells him she’s not interested in a manner that clearly conveys her revulsion. Eric does not handle the conflict gracefully, and bites her harshly to drink from her after he tells her she’s being a hypocrite, which only gives her more reason to push her guilt away and project it onto him.

Sookie’s youth and inexperience serves as a barrier to navigating the turbulent waters of a real relationship.

Sookie had never been in a relationship before Bill, and she only has one other relationship between breaking up with Bill and getting together with Eric. While she enjoys the ‘honeymoon’ phase of her relationships, she flounders when it comes time to address communication issues or outside pressures. Neither Sookie nor Eric find it easy to establish an open channel of communication, but Sookie actively seeks to end serious conversations early or avoid them altogether, while being stunned that Eric initiates conversations about their relationship, something that she thinks all men avoid. At one point, she tells Eric that they need to talk and then starts discussing what she refers to as their “irreconcilable differences.” The conversation seems to be veering into breakup territory, and they’re deeply involved in it when someone knocks on her door. She immediately invites her unexpected guests in and is relieved by the excuse to terminate the conversation abruptly even though Eric is still trying to figure out what’s going on. At other times, she observes that she loves Eric, but she’s not feeling the same lust or excitement when she thinks about him anymore. Anyone who has ever been in a long-term relationship knows that passions often wax and wane, and that it also takes work to sustain and strengthen a relationship over time. Sookie is unwilling to put in the work or even have an honest discussion about the things they need to work on. She talks about romance novels a lot, and it seems to me that she has an idealized concept of love where she believes that they should be effortless and that passions should always be as hot as they were at the beginning. There are also times when she behaves in an extremely childish manner in the midst of conflict. After she severs the magical bond between her and Eric, he comes to her house and her main concern is whether or not he’s mad, while he asks her if she still loves him. She stubbornly insists he has to answer her question first even though she’s the one who broke the bond. On another occasion, Eric’s king comes into town and he is required to be at the monarch’s beck and call. Sookie gets mad at him and tells him she doesn’t want to see him one day, then is even more irritated that he isn’t calling her the next. Soon after, Eric is dealing with an endless litany of personal disasters that he can’t control, and he is short with her. Sookie listens to him confide in her about his problems and then responds with sharp-edged, sarcastic contempt, telling him that she has information that might have helped him with his problems and she might have told him if he wasn’t neglecting her.

Sookie’s limited understand of cultures that are unlike her own leads to misguided assumptions and fatal misunderstandings.

As the books progress, Sookie’s knowledge about vampire culture and governance grows incrementally, but she never approaches their customs with the same open-mindedness that she uses when it comes to werewolves or shapeshifters and their customs. This proves to be a major problem in her relationship with Eric, where there are two unfamiliar cultures at play—the modern culture of vampires, and the ancient culture of Eric’s human life. Sookie often refers to Eric as her “big Viking,” but she never gleans any insight about the culture in which he was raised. She seems to believe that he does not have much respect for women and projects American pre-Women's liberation attitudes on him even though he does not express those beliefs. When he offers to have her come live with him, she assumes that he wants her to be a housewife who cooks and cleans for him. She takes offense, and Eric is confused by her response. As Sookie’s situation becomes more perilous and she is injured multiple times in attacks at Merlotte’s, Eric asks her repeatedly to come live with him and/or work at Fangtasia so that he can protect her. She rebuffs these proposals, believing that they are rooted in misogyny. Sookie is also disinterested in understanding vampire culture, tuning Eric out when he explains things to her and refusing to accept that their rules and customs are different from her own when they inconvenience her. In particular, she never seems to understand the feudal system of governance under which the vampires live. When Eric is obliged to obey his maker or wait on his king or queen, Sookie is consistently irritated that he is not paying enough attention to her. She either does not understand or will not accept that vampires are not free to do whatever they want. This becomes a huge problem in the latter three books after a king from another state annexes Louisiana and kills every sheriff except Eric, putting him in a precarious position. Backed into a corner, he must maneuver very carefully to protect himself and everyone who is loyal to him. At the same time, he learns that his maker entered into a contract to marry him to the vampire Queen of Oklahoma against his will. Sookie refuses to believe Eric when he tells her that there is no way out of the contract, repeatedly insisting that if he loved her enough, he would just refuse to honor it. She holds him to the standards of her own culture, remaining willfully ignorant of the horrible consequences that could befall them both if Eric were to disobey. When she learns she can intervene and save Eric from his fate, she refuses, adamant in her belief that he will find his own escape clause if he truly wants to. The end result of her refusal is that Eric is forced into 200 years of “cushy slavery,” as Sookie calls it, a fate that does not inspire any guilt or pity in her, presumably because she still sees herself as a jilted lover.

At the end of the day, Eric deserved a lot better than Sookie.

He also deserved a lot better from the author, and a lot of people were justifiably outraged with the ending that Charlaine Harris gave to him. Harris, by way of Sookie, repeatedly reminds the reader that the Queen of Oklahoma is a very attractive woman, and it seems that this is intended to excuse the fact that Eric would be contractually obligated to have sex with her whether he wanted to or not. Eric expresses no desire for the queen, constantly asserting his commitment to and love for Sookie. When he admits that he would be required to consummate the relationship with the queen, he seems discomforted and ashamed at the idea. (Harris specifically uses the word “abashed.”) It is revealed to Sookie that the queen conspired to put Eric in this predicament specifically because she knew he valued his independence too much to ever agree to it willingly. Sookie knows that Eric was forced to service his maker sexually against his will, and that what he hates above all else is to be subjugated. She also knows that he will not be a monarch if he marries the queen; he will be her consort, a position that carries with it no inherent power or authority unless the queen gives it to him, and he will not be able to ever succeed her. Even despite all of this, Sookie is completely unsympathetic toward Eric. The author never acknowledges that this ending for Eric essentially means that he will be raped. What astounds me is that I don’t think she would have made his choice for a female character, or if she did, she would not have framed it in the same way. Sookie’s casual dismissal of Eric being sold into “cushy slavery” implies that male rape is no big deal, which is incredibly harmful. It is astounding that she would subject the primary love interest of the entire series to such a fate, and it’s the final nail in the coffin for Sookie Stackhouse for me, at least in her book incarnation. If any of her other love interests had been put in similar circumstances, I can’t imagine what she would not do to try to save them. But because it was Eric—her big, strong Viking who she believes is incapable of feeling emotions or pain and must be invincible in order to be valued by her—Sookie thinks nothing of it. Nothing at all.

@grimeundglow @stevesharrlngtons @scxrsgxrd @grandpa-sweaters

[cheri-translates]

In Third Person (a translated one-shot)

This one-shot was originally written by 礼里图 on Weibo, who has given me permission to translate it!

“Love possesses not, nor will it be possessed. For love is sufficient unto love.”

[ 1 ]

It had taken great pains to be transferred to the Special Task Force. Your father, with glittering medallions on his chest, was vehemently against you throwing yourself into such a dangerous den. He only authorised the transfer after you threw a fit for several days.

He thought that your stubbornness stemmed from a youthful vigour, and an unwillingness to simply idle away under his protection. But you weren’t that ambitious. While leading an idle life was your ultimate goal, settling down was your life’s ideal.

Well, if it wasn’t for that person.

-

The person waiting for your arrival is Eli. After reading out the word on his name tag, he shoots you a smile, revealing a set of straight teeth as he exudes an aura of gentility. “Nice to meet you, MC. I’m Eli. Follow me. Captain Gavin is waiting for you.”

You thank him, maintaining an external appearance of calm. Trailing behind him, you murmur in your heart: What kind of a paradise is Loveland City? Why are there so many dashing men?

The Special Task Force isn’t large, and you are soon brought to your destination. Eli opens the door for you, and you see the back of someone standing tall and straight near the window. He turns around at the sound of the door opening, wearing a polite smile on his face.

The afternoon sun encases him. Against the light, you are unable to tell for a moment which one is of a lighter colour - his hair or his eyes.

He gives you a mild smile. “Hello.”

Dizziness consumes you, and it’s as though cotton is lodged in your throat. There are so many things you want to say, but you have no idea where to begin.

He doesn’t remember you. You know that.

“MC.. MC, wake up! Don’t go to sleep! The support team is on its way. Wake up!”

The gunshot wound on your lower abdomen is oozing with blood. You seem to be in someone’s arms. Fading in and out of consciousness, you hear someone calling your name in an unpractised manner. You want to respond, but blood rises up your throat the moment you breathe, leaving him to call out on his own.

In this lifetime, no one has ever called your name so many times before. When the helicopter makes its way to the scene, his relieved and slightly trembling voice propels you to struggle in opening your eyes. But all you see is his defined chin and his name tag coated in blood.

“Gavin?”

“Mm?” The man looks at you, slightly confused.

“Oh, mm... hello.” The profile in your memory and the person in front of you separate from each other. You react with a start, responding incoherently.

Fortunately, the other party doesn’t seem to mind your odd behaviour. He offers you his hand in a polite and business-like manner. “I’m Gavin. We welcome you as a member of the Special Task Force.”

“It’s an honour.”

He shakes your hand. His palm is dry and warm - different from the cold attitude he displays.

“Your Evol is stagnation? You can avoid any physical attacks, and within a set distance, you can indiscriminately freeze your opponent’s Evol.”

You hear a sharp intake of breath coming from Eli behind you. Suppressing the sense of pride in your heart, you look at the wad of documents in his hand, and nod.

“It’s a very unique and powerful Evol.” He places the documents on the table. When his eyes flit to yours this time, you can see that the amicableness in them is more genuine. “We welcome you.”

-

[ 2 ]

You came here because of Gavin.

During a special police training drill three years ago, the both of you were allocated to be in the same group. At that time, you were arrogant and condescending, looking down on everyone else. During the self-introduction, you didn’t even bother listening to what his name was. Back then, you were certain that given your abilities, you’d be able to get through this drill alone, even though historical data showed that 90% of the special police failed at this stage.

Your confidence wasn’t grounded in nothing. When it came to practice drills, every Evolver was important. So, there typically wouldn’t be any risky weapons like gunpowder. And you were certain that you could get rid of every Evolver within your range.

It couldn’t be helped. In this line of work, talent triumphed over everything else.

But things were unusual during that practice drill. You never expected that people from Black Swan would infiltrate the drill. He didn’t intend to expose himself, but you had once read about his Evol. 

Young and overly confident, you wanted to stand out, so you pointed him out immediately. Panicking, he chose to fire a gun. Although Gavin had tried his best to control the wind to alter the bullet’s trajectory, he was too far away, and time was too tight. In the end, you received a bullet to your lower abdomen.

That was the first time you had such a close shave with death. Many nights after that, it was only after recalling the warmth of Gavin’s palm on your wound, and that phrase “wake up”, that you could flee from nightmares.

You had to find him.

-

[ 3 ]

The life of a civil servant is a boring one.

“Are there any Grade A or Grade S missions today?”

“Nope.”

After asking Eli the same set of daily questions, you sit in the relatively comfortable office.

Special Task Force missions are split into six levels of difficulty - S, A, B, C, D, E. Grade S and A missions are typically led by Gavin, while Grade B and C missions are led by Eli.

Although your Evol is powerful, you’ve only been sent out on trivial missions during your past month in STF. Perhaps it was at your father’s behest, or because you were a newbie. You’ve always been led by Eli, and don’t get to see Gavin much. The first time Gavin saw you lifting up and Evolver with ease, he subconsciously scratched his nose and said: “Truly an overkill.”

You also found that it an overkill. Which is why you’ve been trying to get yourself roped into more difficult missions.

Each time, Eli would give you a look which said that you were being too thick-skinned. “Miss, it’s a peaceful and legal era we live in. We don’t get that many major cases. Also...”

“Also what?”

“Also, it’s not time for you to be deployed.” Eli points at your name tag, then at his own. “You’re blue. I’m green. When you’re green, I’ll help you make an application.”

“Get lost. You’re the one who’s green! You’ll be green soon!”

[Trivia] In Chinese,  being “green” means that you’re being cheated on.

“Why are you so agitated?” Eli leans closer. “Why are you so sensitive? Do you have a boyfriend?”

Who says boys aren’t interested in gossip? You roll your eyes at him. “Not for now.”

“That means you do have someone you fancy!” Eli nods contemplatively, a knowing look on his face.

You should have someone you like.

At least, if you don’t have a mistaken definition of what "like” is.

-

[ 4 ]

It’s a fact that the swivelling chairs in the office are not suitable for working. After using the chair for nearly a month, you get a stiff neck one day when you get up too quickly.

While laughing at your posture, Eli points you towards the infirmary downstairs, and tells you that there’s a kind-looking elderly physician who is experienced in Dit Da.

When you push open the door, you don’t see the physician. instead, you see Gavin, who you haven’t crossed paths with in a long while.

His face is deathly pale as he huddles on one of the sick beds. He looks incredible drained, and is currently asleep. The back of his hand is hooked onto an IV, and the top half of his body is exposed, bandages wrapped around his torso. His back is covered with pinkish bruises and brown scars, both old and new.

The door suddenly opens from behind, bringing with it a gust of fresh air. 

“Who are you?”

You adjust your breathing quietly, suppressing the urge to retch. You turn around to see an elderly man in his fifties walking in. He should be the physician Eli mentioned earlier.

“Hey! Why is this man asleep?” Before you can respond, the physician walks over, adjusting the flow of the IV, then tugging the blanket upwards slightly.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Gavin?” The doctor looks you up and down, his gaze settling on your name tag. “STF Member C-24. Are you this fellow’s subordinate?”

“Mm.” You nod, and repeat your question. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Small issue.” The physician holds up the medical record book at the side, pages rustling as he flips through it. “When does this fellow not bring back a body full of injuries after returning from a mission? Do you see that scar on his collarbone?” He gestures at his own collarbone. “If it were three centimetres deeper, it'd have reached his aorta. Even the gods wouldn’t be able to save him.”

Without waiting for you to express your opinion, the physician continues.

“Why are you young people working so hard? You’re already doing such dangerous work, yet you don’t cherish your bodies. Heading out on missions every day and night. Will the Special Task Force cease to operate without Gavin? He’s still in his twenties, yet he’s so tired that he needs to have an IV... ah, did I wake you up?”

You peer at the bed to find that Gavin has indeed been roused from his sleep. His eye bags display layers of fatigue. In a hoarse voice, he asks, “Why are you here?”

“My... my neck is stiff, so I’m here to have the physician do Dit Da for me.”

“...”

The room lapses into silence. Even without lifting your head, you can sense the physician left aghast at the different severity of injuries between the both of you.

“All right.” The doctor sets down the file in his hand, then walks over to you, placing his hands on your neck. “This is simple. Just twist... and done. Hey, why are you crying?” 

The doctor points at your face, stunned. At a loss, he looks at Gavin, as though trying to prove that your tears have nothing to do with him.

You touch your face, and only then discover that your face is damp. Astonished by this involuntary reaction, you use the back of your hands to wipe the wet stains off. But the floodgates have opened, and you just can’t seem to wipe your face clean. In the end, you decide to lower your face, burying it in your palms. 

The tightening sensation in your heart grips you in waves. You have no idea where this sorrow stems from. Or maybe you do. Maybe you have known since a long time ago. 

But you don’t dare to admit it, and especially not in front of this person - that your uncontrollably trembling shoulders have left you feeling ashamed. In countless nights after this, you’ll definitely toss and turn in bed, regretting this moment.

You don’t want him to be curious about why you’re crying. You’re afraid that his curiosity would lead to him uncovering a secret you wish to tell him, but have no idea how to broach.

“Eh... Miss, why are you crying? Did I hurt you earlier?” The doctor sees that you’re crying even harder now, and starts scrambling around for tissues. “I don’t remember exerting that much strength. Ahh, stop crying! I’ll give you some safflower oil?”

“I’m fine...” You summon your entire body’s worth of strength to bring your sobbing to a halt. Doing your best to control your sniffling, your eyes are hazy as you look at Gavin. You ask hoarsely, “Next time, could I go on missions with you?”

Gavin’s gaze lingers on your face for a very long time - until your sniffling gradually disappears. Only then does he ask simply, “The reason?”

“I’m very incredible. I’m really very incredible.” 

Seeing his calm, unmoved expression, I hurriedly rack my brains, and elaborate. “My Evol allows me to control any Evolvers within range, I have a keen perception, and even attained the first place in school.” His expression remains unchanged, and you end with a conclusion, hoping to salvage the situation. “Trust me, Captain Gavin. With me around, you... and the other colleagues from STF will no longer get injured.”

After this speech, it occurs to you that you might have been overly straightforward. You decide to add, “STF lacks an Evolver with spirit. I feel duty bound to answer this call, and step forward bravely.”

The more you speak, the more you feel like you’re building a weak case for yourself, and all you want to do is bury your head into the ground.

As expected, Gavin doesn’t appear to be impressed, and doesn’t even bother altering his expression. In the harsh environment of STF which requires one to numb oneself to life and death, not many people are willing to choose such a path.

But people like you who harbour talent and the mentality of a new soldier wanting to save the world are more common. After all, battlefields always require people who are willing to die in the name of their convictions. They might not be strong, but they are loyal. When it comes to honouring their duty, they are mighty.

He has likely seen too many people similar to you. People who volunteer their services in the heat of passion. With an official tone, he gives you his response. “The STF has its regulations. If you pass the probation period, you’ll naturally have the chance to go on missions with everyone.”

“Also,” he adds. “Reality is much more cruel than what you imagine. Instead of crying over someone else’s wounds, why not think about how to make yourself even stronger - this way, you won’t let yourself or other people get hurt.”

With this, he shuts his eyes, resuming his rest.

He had stapled a non-romantic definition to the reason for your tears. And you have no way of telling him that they were not simply products of a young woman’s fragile emotions.

Crying is a meaningless act, but what else can you do? 

Poverty, coughing, and romantic affection are unable to be controlled.

And you tears are unable to be controlled either.

-

[ 5 ]

Unable to get past the 887th stage of the mobile game, you’re in the midst of strategising your next move when Eli tosses a green ID card onto your office desk. It lands with a “thump”.

You lift your head, looking at Eli as he sits at the desk opposite yours. He throws you a can of beer, and a: “You’re amazing!”

Catching the can, you use a coin to crack it open. The mildly bitter taste flows down your throat, and it’s so cold that you shiver. Even though you already tried suppressing the happiness in your heart, a smile still creeps onto your face. 

“So-so.”

“There’s no need to be so humble!” Eli cracks open his own can of beer. His tone is direct. “I’ve been here for so long, but it’s the first time I met the Director. And it’s all because I assisted a little employee with a transfer. I’m truly basking in your glory.”

You take small sips of the beer, saying the phrase that you once used countless times, and garnered much envy and hate from. “You’ll get used to it.”

Eli bursts into laughter. Before you can roll your eyes at him, he suddenly asks, “Do you like Gavin?”

He’s referring to Gavin. Not Captain Gavin.

You resist the urge to spit out the beer in your mouth. While swallowing it carefully, you crunch the empty can underneath your feet, then toss it into the dustbin situated three metres away. Although it flies in the air in a beautiful arc, it regretfully lands beside the bin.

Eli picks up the crushed can, throwing it into the bin. Then, he holds up his unfinished drink towards you.

“Don’t get so agitated. I was just wondering why someone like you - with such a good family background and powerful abilities - would join a dangerous place offering you such harsh conditions. So I read through your file, and found that you, Gavin, and I were from the same police academy. No wonder you acted a little odd when you met him the first time.. Right from the start, you joined because of him. Right, MC? Or should I call you... Junior?”

You smile, neither admitting nor denying it. Instead, you counter with a question. “Does Gavin know that you’re this gossipy behind his back?”

Throwing his now-empty can into the bin, he straightens his clothes and responds. “Don’t worry. He doesn’t know it yet. It’s a good thing we’re considered friends. So I’d know if he brings you up.” He pauses, then continues. “You should stop caring about Gavin.”

“Why?”

Eli walks over, giving you a pat on the head. “It’s a long story, and I can’t explain it succinctly. In short, if you can forget about him, forget him. If you can’t forget about him, run away quickly. This is the prime of your youth, so there’s no need to waste it on the STF, and there’s no need to waste it on Gavin. Also, we have a Grade S mission tonight, and you’ll be following Gav... Captain Gavin. Make sure you’re prepared.”

Whenever people fall into the river of love, people often say that you shouldn’t waste your youth on one person, as though youth is something amazing. 

But when you think about it, you find that the thing you most cherish in youth, and the thing worth returning to over and over again, is the time you devoted your entire heart to wasting.

-

[ 6 ]

It’s been two months since you last saw Gavin.

In the break room just before the mission commences, you see him decked out in full military gear. He looks so handsome that his picture could be used as promotional material for the National University of Defense Technology.

Expressionless, he scans the team. Finally, his eyes land on you. Furrowing his brows, he asks, “Why aren’t you wearing a bulletproof vest?”

You stare at the new vest at the side, giving him a shrug. “I don’t need it. The enemy can't hurt me.”

Also, you’re worried that the bulletproof vest would be too bulky for your somewhat petite frame.

“Put it on.”

He speaks in a tone which leaves absolutely no room for discussion, and he exudes a rare, imposing manner of a high-ranking official.

Quietly, you pick up the vest and wear it.

Likely sensing that his tone was overly harsh earlier, he steps closer a little unnaturally to explain. “In every mission, there are many uncertain factors. Being overly confident is being irresponsible to yourself.” Saying this, he seems to realise that you aren’t the type of person who would be responsible for yourself. So he adds, “Think about the people who care about you.”

The reason suffices to convince you, although it would have worked better if he had said: “Think about the people you care about”.

-

When you disembark from the vehicle and see a huge, disorderly mass of civilians and Evolvers rushing over, you get goosebumps. 

Evolvers and ordinary citizens have never had a difference in actual strength. The difference lay in talent. Although you were especially terrifying to Evolvers, you couldn’t do much about normal citizens.

On this evening, five of you have been deployed to the scene, and can be considered to be the elites. It shouldn’t be a problem dealing with ten or fifteen Evolvers.

But when you see the vast group of people before you, you can’t help but feel anxious.

“We’ll buy time while waiting for assistance.” Gavin commands in a soft voice, frowning. “I’ve already contacted the armed police. We just need to handle the Evolvers. The civilians will be left to the police.”

Eli and the others nod. Using the car as the base, they form an inverted triangle with you in the middle. This formation takes into account how your Evol provides the strongest assistance. To an Evolver, losing his abilities is akin to being a sheep out of its enclosure.

But your Evol has its weaknesses. And its greatest weakness is you.

You feel dizzy at the sight of blood.

It’s likely a shortcoming resulting from the time you were shot in the abdomen and felt warm blood gushing out of your wound. Since then, whenever you see a patch of crimson or smell the scent of blood, you’d feel dizzy and experience heart palpitations.

Which mission wouldn’t involve blood?

You force yourself to concentrate on the swarming flood of enemies as they rush forward, so that you can use your abilities at the earliest possible instance.

Gavin is standing on your left. It’s obvious that he is on the alert. The veins on his arms are evident, and the surrounding wind rustles from his Evol.

The battle is about to begin.

The other side has also come prepared. Knowing about the existence of someone harbouring the “stagnation” ability, they plan to adopt a human wave attack. But Gavin’s wall of wind prevents them from taking a step closer. Naturally, most of the firepower is targeted towards him, preparing to break your team’s small but sturdy formation by taking him down first. 

You know that Gavin has always been good at fighting, even though many claimed that he rose to his position at such a young age because of his father. But how could the glory of one’s family bless one from escaping death time and time again?

However, even the most fearsome lion isn’t impervious to the bite of a stray dog. He’s gradually unable to hold off the firepower. A small tear appears in the wall of wind. And this is the chance the other side has been waiting for. Without a hint of hesitation, someone takes aim and shoots at the hole. It’s too late for the team to react, and they can only watch as the bullet whizzes towards Gavin.

You lunge forward without a thought. 

Perhaps you were always waiting for this moment, ever since you saw him wounded in the infirmary.

You’re not brave.

But you like him.

And it’s precisely because you like him that you’re brave enough to move forward.

The collision of the back of your head with the solid car results in an earth-shattering noise. The sudden sharp pain makes you blank out for a few seconds, and you hear someone calling your name loudly before you sink into a boundless darkness. 

-

[ 7 ]

When you regain consciousness, you’re in the hospital. Eli is sitting at the edge of the bed, paring an apple.

Noticing your gaze, he responds before you can even open your mouth. “I know what you’re going to ask. Gavin was here earlier, but left after the doctor said you were fine. There are still many things he has to deal with.”

You nod, eyes drifting to the drip tube attached to your hand.

“You’re okay, just a mild concussion. It’s a good thing you had the bulletproof vest on, or you’d be in the ICU right now.” He hands you a poorly pared apple. “Was it worth it?”

Goosebumps appear on your skin at his words, which sound as though they were extracted from a soap opera script.

You take a huge bite of the apple, the sour yet sweet juices filling your mouth. “Don’t ask me whether it was worth it. Ask if I’m happy or not.”

Not waiting for Eli to respond, you continue. “I’m happy. I was able to do something for him. I did it gladly.”

Eil’s hand trembles slightly, then he pats the top of your head gently. “You’re truly a fool...”

-

Later, Gavin pays you a visit. You’ve just woken up from a sweet dream, and the sky is already darkening. He’s standing at the window in a daze. Although you wish to stare at him for a while longer, he’s too sharp, and quickly realises that you’re awake.

“Feeling better?” He turns around and asks.

You nod.

He draws the curtains, letting the remnants of sunlight stream in. Then, he picks the sofa farthest away from the bed, and sits down. You know what he’s going to talk about.

“I hope this wouldn’t happen again.”

It’s exactly what you expected. You shut your eyes. In a hoarse voice, you defend yourself. “You don’t need to care about it.”

After all, you did it willingly.

He frowns and glances at you, as though he’s trying to find the correct words to say. Finally, he leaves you with a stiff sentence. “You don’t need to sacrifice yourself for other people.”

You smile, wanting to respond with: “But you aren’t 'other people’”.

After thinking about it for a very long time, you decide that you lack the guts to say it. 

In the end, you respond with what’s expected of you.

“Got it, Captain Gavin.”

-

[ 8 ]

It’s an old STF tradition to gather for a meal after a successful mission. When you see Gavin dealing somewhat awkwardly with the service staff’s overly enthusiastic ‘interrogations’, you feel like chuckling.

The world works in strange ways. Just a week ago, you were at death’s door. But right now, you’re standing here, watching as Gavin struggles between a half-spicy and half-mild hotpot or a mala hotpot.

Truly, the most ordinary things bring the most comfort.

Foodies love talking about their feelings over a meal. Before, you had mostly interacted with Eli. In the span of a single meal, however, you find yourself growing much closer to the team. Gavin is exceptionally quiet at the table. The person whose expression doesn’t change when faced with ferocious enemies, the most difficult circumstances, is currently red in the face and neck from the spiciness of the dishes. Even the tip of his nose is coated in a sheen of sweat.

He looks ravishing. It’s the first time your heart has fluttered so much during a meal. He seems to be ill at ease, and keeps checking his phone.

In the middle of the hotpot, you receive a call from your father. Gripping your phone, you head to the only quiet spot you can find.

After exchanging a few words with your father, you hang up. 

The clamour from outside drifts over, and you rub your slightly swollen temples. Suddenly, you don’t really feel like going back. You’d rather embrace this rare moment of tranquility.

Coincidentally, once this thought flits through your mind, you hear footsteps approaching. You’re standing on one of the higher stairs, which happens to be cloaked in shadows. If one doesn’t pay attention, they wouldn’t be able to spot you.

The owner of the footsteps leaves you frozen in place.

It’s Gavin.

He has removed his jacket, and is only wearing a white t-shirt. The look in his eyes is even deeper than the shadows. Ever since the two of you reunited, this is the first time you get the chance to observe him from such a close distance.

He coughs lightly at the seemingly empty corridor, then takes out his phone, preparing to make a call.

Despite this unexpected turn of events, you have no intention of eavesdropping. However, making an appearance now would just make things awkward.

While you’re still mulling over what would be the best course of action, the line gets through. 

It’s as if someone flipped a switch on him.

For the first time, you see a gentle expression on his face.

“What are you up to?” He says softly, reminiscent of someone afraid of waking another from a dream.

You can’t hear what’s being said on the other end, but you can see his tender gaze and the insuppressible tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Just coming off a mission. I'm tired.”

He leans against a railing next to the stairs, subconsciously loosening his tie. At this moment, all his accumulated fatigue finally pours out in torrents.

He doesn’t say much after this. A faint smile lingers on his face. It seems the person at the other end of the line is planning something, and his smile grows more and more evident as he keeps agreeing with “mm”, “sure”, “anything you say”.

In the end, he glances at his watch, realising that he doesn’t have much time left. Softly, he says, “It’s late. Rest early. Goodnight.”

It’s a beautiful scene - giving someone a call after a busy day of work, talking about weekend plans, sharing each others’ lives, and basking in the joy of having someone concerned about you.

The only regretful thing is that the person on the other end of the line isn't you.

-

[ 9 ]

Only after a long while after Gavin leaves do you drag your numb feet out of your hiding spot. You spot Eli at the end of the corridor, smoking a cigarette. He looks you up and down, as though trying to verify something.

“Are you okay?” He asks hesitantly.

“I’m fine.”

The moment the words leave your lips, you feel your face heat up. Tears spill from your eyes, and you use the back of your hands to wipe at your face.

“It’s just an old habit. I'm like this whenever I get too emotional. Could you give me a cigarette? It’d help me calm down.” You explain, realising that Eli has no idea what happened.

With a conflicted expression, Eli retrieves a cigarette box from his pocket. He picks one cigarette bud and hands it to you. Placing it between your trembling lips, he lights it. It works wonders. The moment you inhale, you feel your entire body immersed in a warm scent. Encased in smoke, you hear Eli speak. “The last time, I mentioned that it was a long story. But if you want to hear it, I can cut it short.”

“I want to hear it.”

“That person is his junior. Gavin has known her for many years, and has liked her for just as many years. All these things you're doing...” He glances at you, then lights a new cigarette. “They don’t mean much to him. You saw the way he looked when he was making the call, right? It’s only for one person in the entire world. Nobody else.”

The tears surge forth once again. While you rush to wipe them away, you berate Eli. “Damn it! Why can’t you be more considerate to how I feel?”

Seeing that you’re crying even more fiercely, he stops his cutting remarks. Instead, he tousles your hair, then rifles through his wallet for a picture of Gavin. “It’s not for sale. I’ll give it to you as a souvenir.”

You take the photograph from him. It’s one that was taken a very long time ago, and its edges are curled. Under the dim lights, you take this old photograph in your hand, and are transported to the time of Gavin’s youth. He’s standing on the roof of the school, his blue and white uniform blowing with the wind. One hand is on the railing, and another is holding on to a paper airplane. With a slight smile, he turns back to look at the camera. Behind him is the azure sky.

Back then, none of these regrets blossomed yet.

“I don’t know if I appeared too early, or too late.”

Eli stares at you, his gaze sympathetic. “Sometimes, it’s not about whether you’re early or late. I’m not sure if you’ll understand if I put it this way - There won’t be another person. There’s only her. Gavin isn’t the sort of person who would like someone because they treat him well. It’s only when he likes someone that he'd accept that person’s kindness.”

“But,” he continues. “Even if the ending remains the same, you can change its course. After all, if you want a wound to heal completely, the best way is to remove the rotten areas. Perhaps what other people say is useless. You could try listening to his answer directly.”

You nod.

Loving someone requires devotion. One will always have to experience all sorts of hardship before it can come to fruition.

-

[ 10 ]

By the time you and Eli return, the meal has almost reached an end. Your colleagues are preparing to head over for karaoke next door. When you are all packed into the lift, you happen to stand behind Gavin. He has his jacket on, and his sleeves are pulled up, revealing a black plaited bracelet on his wrist. No matter how slow-witted you are, you’re able to recognise that it’s part of a couple set advertised by a certain brand a long time ago.

Behind you, a couple of drunk colleagues start causing a ruckus and bumping against your back. In the crowded lift, you shuffle your feet, trying to steady yourself, and trying to maintain a certain distance between the two of you.

Sometimes, you can’t comprehend your strange ego and pride. You’ve seen girls showering the guys they like with gifts, and wearing beautiful dresses to invite them out to movies. But you’ve never thought of imitating them. You’d even secretly celebrate when they get rejected - You were so glad that you were different from them.

But today, you realise that you aren’t that different from them. You aren’t even as candid as they are. 

The lively atmosphere is a stark contrast to your mood. Upon entering the karaoke room, you find a corner and isolate yourself with popcorn. Despite giving out clear signals that you’d rather not be disturbed, the officers pull you over to play ‘Truth or Dare’, calling it a necessary rite of passage for new members.

The rules are simple - when the mouth of the bottle points at you, you have to choose to answer a question truthfully, or do a dare.

You have very good luck, and the bottle continually points at other colleagues, and you get to hear all sorts of gossip, and witness several 'dares’.

After a while, the person responsible for spinning the bottle starts targeting you. When the mouth of the bottle finally points at you, you actually heave a sigh of relief.

It’s better to get this over and done with.

Without any hesitation, you pick ‘dare’. After all, there’s too big of a risk in choosing ‘truth’. A bespectacled colleague reads out your task. 

“Choose one guy in the room, lean in close to his ear, and say the words: ‘I love you’.”

You freeze in place, a million emotions bustling in your heart.

Honestly speaking, you never really believed in coincidences before. You felt that these were just things used to dupe the superstitious. But at this moment, this meaningless game started making you believe that coincidences do exist. 

Perhaps this is what people often call “fate”.

In the midst of the hooting from the audience in response to your task, you deliberately ignore the conflicted expression on Eli’s face. You stand up while your colleagues whip out their phones, ready to snap pictures and videos. They’re all ready to, as usual, capture memories they can look back on fondly each year.

Everyone is exuberant, and nobody notices your apprehension.

Your eyes fall on Gavin, who is seated at a corner. His brows are knitted slightly, expression indifferent. The black earrings on his ears reflect the cold light. When he doesn’t speak, he gives off an aura of not being close to anyone.

You imagine how he must have been like in high school - a bad boy with his hair dyed, riding a motorcycle, causing a ruckus in school, attaining poor grades, and always pretending to be cool by having earplugs in his ears while sitting at the corner of the classroom.

Until this day, a certain impatience can still be felt from this man. It’s very obvious, and can be noted with a single glance.

When your colleagues realise that your target is Gavin, the clamour grows even louder. Choosing a superior as a target of a dare - they must think that you have a playful spirit. You pause before Gavin, and the exaggerated exclamations are about to burst through the roof.

But when you muster the courage to lean in Gavin’s ear to say that phrase “I love you”, the surroundings lapse into silence almost immediately.

Maybe your expression was too serious. Maybe your tone was too sincere. Either way, everyone’s reaction tells you very clearly - you messed it up. The colleagues who were holding up their phones earlier in anticipation are now feeling awkward and not knowing what to do.

All is quiet. 

That is, until Eli breaks the silence. “This round doesn’t count - it’s so boring. Let’s change the target. MC, what about me?”

Gavin purses his lips into a slight smile, patting Eli’s hand which is resting on his shoulder. “Get lost. Don’t use our female colleagues to joke around.”

With this, the tension in the air dissipates. Everyone diverts the topic, and they begin the next round.

In the next few hours, you drink a lot. You puke a lot too, and it feels as though your guts are about to spill out.

Eli is the one who sends you home. He supports you into the car, and you hear Gavin telling him softly, “Give me a call when you’ve reached.”

Because of what he says, you end up crying all the way home. 

To you, he’s the perfect superior. A worthy comrade-in-arms. A righteous stranger. But he’ll never a reliable lover.

That night, you have a dream about Gavin.

In it, you can’t see his face clearly. He’s wearing a loose school uniform, and is alone in the basketball court, dribbling a ball, a plaster on his hand.

It’s a very realistic dream.

You’re sitting afar off and watching him. Occasionally, the ball would roll to a place near you. When you finally think of picking it up, you see Gavin running over. He’s so close that you can see strands of sweat-drenched hair on his forehead. You try reaching out to touch him, but you just can’t do it. It’s as though there’s a transparent film between the two of you. No matter how close you are, you can only be a member of the audience.

When you wake up, you’re facing the ceiling. Someone once told you that you’d forget the contents of your dreams the moment you turn. So you lie stiffly for a very long time, trying to remember as many details of the dream as you can.

Sunlight streams in through the curtains.

You finally turn to your side, and tears stream down the side of your face.

Even in dreams, you can’t obtain a happy ending.

-

[ 11 ]

After that night, because of your father’s position and how you faint at the sight of blood, you are quickly transferred to a commanding post instead of having to be deployed on missions. 

In an instant, you become Gavin’s superior.

Unlike in fiction where female superiors who experience unrequited love torment the target of their affections, or use their position to seduce them, you have no intention of doing so. Instead, you simply treat him much more coldly than a normal superior would.

Occasionally, in the middle of night, you’d have the urge to ask him a question.

"Why can’t it be me?”

But you know that this question has been buried in the last page of your diary, hidden in the corner of your bookshelf. It decomposes in your innermost heart - a place where no one has ever seen.

Because you already know the answer.

On the night when make-believe turned out to be reality, you had leaned in close to his ear, and said “I love you” in a trembling voice. Back then, he had turned his face away slightly, his expression grave and stern, reminiscent of the marble stone that you used to touch when you were small.

You know that it’d never be you.

-

Sometimes, when Eli takes Gavin’s place to give reports, you’d pull him out for a meal and drinks.

On one particular evening when you had drunk quite a fair amount, he leaned on the table and looked at you. “Have you let go?”

You secretly stole a prawn from his plate. While munching on it, you responded, “I’ve let go.”

You truly have.

Which is why afterwards, when you and Gavin were selected as stellar graduates to return to your alma mater and give a speech, the emotions in your heart were not turbulent. 

You vaguely remember that the sunset on that day was very beautiful.

The yellowish golden sun was gradually disappearing below the horizon, as beautiful as a painting - the most beautiful sunset in your life.

He stood by your side with a depth in his eyes - the most detailed stroke in this painting, etched onto your heart.

Although you tried to suppress the urge, you decided to speak. “I always hoped to get a chance to return to this place with you again. I didn’t think it’d come true. I’m left with no regrets.”

He frowned slightly. Even though he tried to conceal it, you could sense a twinge of awkwardness. He looked as though he wanted to speak, but didn’t. 

You chuckled.

“I once thought that the reason why I came to STF, why I went on missions with you, and helped you take that bullet, was for you. But now I know that it was to complete myself.”

“I don’t need a response from you. In my years of youth, meeting someone like you was already my fortune.”

He froze, lapsing into a long silence. In the end, he says: “Thank you.”

His shoulders relaxed, as though he had set down a large boulder, and was relieved of a heavy load. 

You had nothing much to regret. What’s there to regret? As compared to yourself, you’d prefer for him to get what he wanted.

Thousands of years ago, a poet called Su She once said that the flow of the river and the waning of the moon are simply temporary changes. From a broader, long-term perspective, they are never-changing. 

When you first heard it, you weren’t able to draw any lessons from it.

But when you flipped through Khalil Gibran’s collection, you were finally enlightened. After being troubled for so many years, everything finally made sense with just one sentence.

Gibran said: “Love possesses not, nor will it be possessed. For love is sufficient unto love.”

-

[ Permission to translate ]

礼里图: You can move it over if you state the source. It’s even better when more people can like it~

[cruelfeline]

This Got Long and I am Sorry

Well, the anti in the Hordak tag deleted their post, which is a huge bummer because it means no fun games for me. But! I have been looking forward to addressing the points in that post all day, and I won’t give up my chance to talk ad nauseam about Hordak. Because y’all know that I love to talk about Hordak.

also I saved the post as a draft prior to it getting deleted so I actually have the whole thing hahaha

However: in order to prevent the original poster from getting harassed for said post, I’m just going to address points via my own summary. Safer that way! So, here we go: addressing some posited reasons that Catra and Hordak are not comparable, plus some claims about why Hordak can’t be treated with the same kindness many like to treat Catra with. 

1. Hordak being a clone of a dictator/not being biologically similar to Catra et. al, acting as he does because of this biology as a clone.

This portion of that post was a little odd because I don’t really understand what the argument was. Perhaps the idea that Hordak literally cannot be anything different than his progenitor due to... cloning science? I’m not sure.

But assuming that that was the intended argument: being a clone essentially means having the same DNA as someone else. That’s all. It does not mean that you are the exact same person (ask some identical twins if they are the same exact person as their sibling). The environment one is raised in, along with epigenetics (changes in individuals due to gene expression rather than DNA), provides infinite variations between individuals that might share the same DNA. So this argument is a little... nonsensical?

Now, I can definitely buy that some of Hordak’s morality might be biology-based; that is a legitimate argument. See this post regarding why an individual like Hordak may not have issues raising children for his army, for example. Mind you, I don’t really see this as an argument in support of him just being an evil, irredeemable bastard; rather, I look at it as an argument against “natural evil” and more in favor of different biological, cultural, and environmental factors creating an alien morality.

2. Hordak created a social system that resulted in all sorts of abuses being visited upon children. He viewed said children as disposable materials for his war.

...yeah, actually, just go to this post again. Honestly, I have zero expectation for Hordak to have any sort of special tenderness towards children. I don’t expect a clone from a society of clones to value children, not because he’s pure evil, but because he comes from a world where children aren’t a thing. Why would he value them?

A creature whose life is so different from ours as to give it a different sense of morals isn’t necessarily evil, even if they do things that we look upon as evil via our morality. Morality is not a universal constant; our evil may be meaningless to an alien, whereas our good might be horrifying to them. It all depends on the creature.

And as far as seeing children as disposable material for war: well, that follows, doesn’t it? Because after all, Hordak is also disposable material for war. Material that was actually disposed of.

3. Hordak was ready to murder Catra for disobeying orders; he’s likely murdered other high ranking officers for the same.

There is no evidence that Hordak has personally murdered anyone, so we’re just going to pass on that. One may speculate all one wants, but unless Hordak presents me with a neatly-written list of all the poor souls he’s slain, I don’t have much to say about this.

However, regarding him being ready to kill Catra: this is a complex situation because it was not as simple as “Catra disobeyed, so she must die.” Catra did not just disobey Hordak; she lied to him. He gave her a chance to come clean, to be trustworthy and loyal, to own up to a mistake, and she lied to him.

This is an issue for a couple of reasons: first, Hordak appears to have a thing about lies. He has a thing about people deceiving him (potentially because, where he comes from, he is truly incapable of lying), about not knowing what people around him are planning. Personally, I think that this is at least somewhat rooted in self-defense: he is physically weak without armor and prone to emotional manipulation by anyone who knows anything remotely intimate about him. Catra proves this point by manipulating the bejeezus out of him during season four, right after showing him that she can kill him anytime she likes by disarming him via crystal-grab. If one of his subordinates is prone to deceiving him, he needs to get rid of that subordinate to protect himself. 

Second, when Catra loses Shadow Weaver, she truly does endanger the whole Horde. Like, Shadow Weaver literally helps the Princesses infiltrate during season three. That is a thing that happens. Hordak isn’t just pulling dumb moments of insubordination from thin air; he elects to eliminate Catra because she has done something that proves to be actually detrimental to the Horde in a serious way.

I don’t mean to say that Hordak is morally correct in sentencing Catra to death, first via Beast Island, then via Crimson waste; what I mean to say is that he enacts an extremely dramatic punishment not due to simple disobedience, but due to Catra being legitimately dangerous to his life and the life of the Horde. It’s still not “good,” but it’s not the same as killing Catra for mouthing off. It’s not some grand confirmation of irredeemable evil; it’s not that simple.

4. Catra is an abused child who has been broken physically, emotionally, and psychologically since she was an infant; Hordak, on the other hand, has no background in abuse. The only bad that has happened to him is being called a defect and sent out to fight and die, which didn’t really matter because he was a clone anyway.

This… this is a sentiment some antis hold that is honestly disturbing to me.

I won’t touch on the Catra portion; all of that is true.

But Hordak… I cannot comprehend how some people don’t seem to understand the true horror of Hordak’s situation. As far as we currently know, as of season four, Hordak was manufactured to be a tool of war. He was never meant to be his own person, despite clearly having the psyche of one. He didn’t even have, couldn’t have, his own name. He was born into this purpose with no way out, no hope for any choice of his own. For pity’s sake, he has a port in the back of his neck that allows him to be erased without a moment’s notice. That is a piece of hardware someone put in him to completely control him against his will. It is a level of bodily autonomy violation suffered by no one else on this show. 

Hordak has essentially no personal self-esteem and no ability to self-validate outside of his identity as Prime’s clone. His entire concept of self-worth is based upon being useful to Prime, to the point that he doesn’t seem to understand that his being thrown away for getting sick is not only not his fault, but morally abhorrent. He is so emotionally dependent on his Brother that, despite severe risk to his own life, he seeks to return to him rather than simply taking Etheria for himself (which is what he would have done if he simply wanted to be a ruler). He needs Prime’s validation, Prime’s approval, that badly. 

And he tries to obtain that approval despite being absolutely terrified of Prime, despite it being very clear to us that there is no way that Prime will ever give it as long as Hordak remains his own self. Despite all of that, Hordak needs it because he was manufactured and programmed and conditioned to worship this terrible creature, and he simply cannot grasp a different way to live. He’s too emotionally sick.

I’m not sure how someone can look at this character and not see what has happened to him, what is happening to him, as abuse. 

5. Hordak only starts to care about anything else when Entrapta enters his life, and he only does so because she validates him; even then, it takes a long time.

This is a perplexing concept to me because… well, yes? Of course he only starts to see things differently when he bonds with Entrapta? Obviously?

Until then, he never had anyone suggest to him that he could be a worthwhile person without having some sort of practical use. He never had a companion to share his vulnerabilities with. He only had his sick ties to Prime.

Perhaps this means to suggest that Hordak should have started building a new life without the help he received from Entrapta? As if people suffering from mental illness and severe emotional pain should just be able to lift themselves up with zero support and fix their whole lives in a snap.

Ailing people tend to need other people’s support to get through their troubles. Hordak not being able to see new possibilities for his life without Entrapta’s help doesn’t say anything negative about him; all it says is that he needed someone’s support to start healing. Just as the overwhelming majority of people do.

6. Catra wants to be in charge so that others can’t hurt her. Hordak wants to be in charge just so he can “be on top,” and he only regrets what occurs with Prime because it means he is no longer dominant.

Hordak as a warlord is actually a very interesting thing to look at. He fails to act in the way that many enthusiastic, traditional warlord characters do, to the point that he seems less into the ruling and more into the obtainment of Prime’s esteem via conquering a planet to prove his worth. Which is, y’know, what’s happening: Hordak doesn’t care about ruling Etheria. He cares about conquering it so he can present it to Prime and prove that he deserves to live. The full post about that is right here.

If Hordak really cared about ruling something, he would have never bothered wasting all of that time building a portal to get in contact with Prime. He would have focused all of his efforts on conquering Etheria and left it at that. His actions only make sense when one understands that he doesn’t actually care about being a tyrannical lord; he cares about showing his Brother that he’s a good boy.

7. Catra feels regret for her actions; Hordak does not. Catra sees herself as an irredeemable bad person and hates herself. Hordak doesn’t believe he needs to be redeemed and just wants to control everything.

Again, I won’t touch Catra here, because that assessment is valid.

Hordak, however: Hordak literally thinks so little of himself that he believes it his own job to prove to his brother that he shouldn’t have been tossed aside to die. He doesn’t see this as a moral failing on Prime’s part. He doesn’t see it as wrong, that he was thrown away because he got sick. He sees it as a problem that it is his responsibility to fix.

Hordak admits to Entrapta that he has doubts: perhaps Prime was right. Perhaps he, Hordak, is a failure. Perhaps it was okay to send him out to die.

Hordak believes Catra’s lies about Entrapta’s “betrayal” because, Twitter Word of God, he views himself as undeserving of friendship.

Whether Hordak believes himself needing redemption is beside the point: the core of Hordak’s story and character arc has nothing to do with being a morally good person. It has to do with learning, understanding, and internalizing that he has his own value beyond what Horde Prime grants him. It has to do with accepting himself as he is, triumphs and shortcomings alike. It has to do with realizing that he has a right to live with or without Prime’s say-so. 

Moral redemption has nothing to do with it because before Hordak has any hope of learning to respect the rights of others, he has to learn to fight for his own.

Am I done? I think I’m done.

Well. Regrettably, I had to summarize this, so the original poster’s words are not verbatim intact, but I think I got the sense of them! Also regrettably, they will likely not see or respond to this, so that chance for active dialogue is gone. But anyone else can respond if they like, including any antis lurking about the tag. Well; if you can slog through this whole thing!

Anyway, in conclusion: Hordak is a sad bastard man. He has just as many painful personal problems as Catra and will forever have all of my sympathy and kindness because I have decided that he deserves it. So there.

[lastpic21]

READING YOUR DOG

Though dogs have no capacity to communicate with words, they do have a rich language of their own that uses sight, sound, and smell to eloquently express their intentions and emotional states. Your ability to understand this language and its particular social setting is the cornerstone of a good relationship with your dog. The apt expression “reading your dog” means really understanding what she is saying to you and not just what you think it might be. By taking into account the dynamic interaction of various forms of body language, you can avoid problems that occur in the human-dog relationship when owners misinterpret their dogs’ intentions and moods.

For example, one of the complaints we receive from puppy owners involves submissive urination, demonstrated by a puppy who runs up to her guardian and excitedly greets her by urinating on the floor. This behavior is common in puppies, a natural outgrowth from when their mothers cleaned them by rolling them over to lick their genitals and anus. As puppies mature, submissive urination becomes a reflexive sign of their acceptance of dominance and authority. If you observe a young pup greeting an older, more dominant dog in a similar manner (crouching low, wagging tail tucked underneath, excitedly licking at the elder’s muzzle as she leaves several drops of urine on the ground), you will never see the older dog punish the pup. The expression of submission is received gracefully, with an attitude of dominant composure by the older dog as she stands erect, holding her tail high. She understands the sign completely.

Unfortunately, many owners misunderstand its significance and treat it as either a behavioral disorder or a housebreaking problem. We recall a frustrated owner who asked us, “Is she just a masochistic puppy? Doesn’t she understand? Every time I come home she piddles at my feet. I spank her, tell her how naughty she is, that she’s to do this outside, but it only gets worse. Now all I have to do is enter the house and she pees. Why doesn’t she understand?”

The man did not realize what his pup’s behavior expressed. By misinterpreting submissive urination as neurotic, cowardly behavior, and by punishing her with scolding and spanking, he had set the stage for a serious, long-lasting behavior problem. Punishment was the worst possible response to her behavior; it deepened the issue by making her even more submissive, since her body language had already acknowledged his authority. The proper response to this problem is outlined in chapter seventeen.

Expecting your dog to rise to the level of human thought and communication will lead only to frustration. Instead, learn to read her by taking what you know about dogs and stepping into her world, trying to view life from her perspective. This may require a different way of thinking than you are accustomed to.

Try a simple exercise: Imagine looking out of the eyes of your ten-week-old puppy. Do not attempt to verbalize; simply imagine being the dog. Now look up at the big human being next to you (yourself). With the increasing abilities you have as a dog to interpret human body language, what do you “read”? How do you react? Look closely at the eyes, the face, the body. Is the stance imposing and towering, or inviting? Consider the voice—you do not understand the words, but what is the tone? Is it cheerful and pleasant, or harsh and abrupt? Does it sound whiny or anemic? Now look around the room from a dog’s perspective. Observe the pair of leather shoes by the door, the large potted plant, the various pieces of furniture, and the inviting electric cords plugged into the sockets at puppy eye level. With your olfactory powers of incredible sensitivity, what is of greatest interest?

The point of this “pup’s-eye view” exercise is to till the soil of your imagination responsibly, to help you sense, in some small way, what things are like from a pup’s perspective. A good companion and trainer can enter imaginatively into the dog’s reality, interpret it correctly, and then adjust various handling procedures to fit that knowledge. Captain Max von Stephanitz, the founding father of the German shepherd dog breed, was very perceptive in this regard:

The trainer must himself be a psychologist; he must learn to read the soul of the dog, and his own, too. He must observe himself closely so that he shall not only be prevented from underestimating the dog in human arrogance, but also that he may be able to give the dog suggestions and help in an intelligent way. Whoever can find the answer to the question “How shall I say this to my dog?” has won the game and can develop from his animal whatever he likes.

When you approach your dog in this way, the experience is surprisingly multidimensional. Not only does your dog become trained but you become skilled as well, and the ongoing knowledge you acquire from your dog’s behavior has the potential to teach you as much about yourself as it does about your dog. An often neglected aspect of the training process is how your dog becomes a mirror, reflecting you back to yourself, helping you achieve greater self-awareness by drawing out greater degrees of patience, sensitivity, and emotional self-control. This is the heart of training.

In How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend, we spoke of inseeing and its importance in your relationship with your dog. Inseeing is getting inside your dog’s psyche, putting yourself at her center, where she is a unique, individual creature, and understanding her from that perspective. This is possible only when you genuinely want to know what your dog is saying. To get inside a dog’s head, to understand her from her point of view, you must continually watch, look, and listen, since a dog communicates through her body movements and vocalizations. Inseeing is not a romantic projection of human thoughts and feelings; it takes into account the whole dog by reading what the major centers of communication—ears, eyes, mouth, tail, and body carriage—are saying.

In this chapter, we will examine the significance of these centers of communication and the different meanings associated with various gestures. Your friendship with your dog will mature into real and compassionate understanding when you learn to blend intuition with science in a serious grasp of canine communication and behavior.

Canine Communication

Besides becoming a keen observer of domestic dogs, you can also acquire an authentic sensitivity to a dog’s language by paying careful attention to the lessons available from a natural tutor: the wolf and its pack. Scientific evidence strongly suggests that domestic dogs are closely related to wolves, either as direct descendants of several species or as cousins, possessing a common ancestry in some earlier, unknown canid that is now extinct. Either way, studies performed on communication and social behavior in wolves are enormously illuminating for what they teach us about dogs, since the meaning of various postures and vocalizations are generally consistent throughout the canine family. Despite the fact that artificial selection and domestication have emphasized certain characteristics while suppressing others (for example, by promoting pendulous ears or by the unfortunate practice of tail docking and ear cropping in some breeds), all of the behavior patterns we observe in dogs are also present in wolves. Thus, in the following discussion, we gratefully acknowledge the research in canine communication and behavior carried out by wildlife biologists, ethologists, and animal behaviorists, and we include references to wolves where relevant.

Communication, simply stated, is the passing of information from one individual to another. In canines, this involves hearing, vision, and smell. As we have seen, puppies are born with inherited reflexes that are the basis of instincts—natural behavior patterns that are the means of communication. In the initial phases of life, a young puppy is limited both physically and behaviorally in how she expresses herself. As the brain develops and the pup has the opportunity of interacting with her mother and littermates, however, she becomes more and more capable of expressing a variety of different moods and emotions. These abilities continue to develop long into adulthood.

Vocal Communication

A dog, like a wolf, generally vocalizes in one of several ways, each apparently tied to various body postures that communicate different meanings and moods: whimpering and whining, growling, barking, yelping, and howling, all in a wide variety of tones.

The first vocalizations that puppies make are mewing sounds that indicate need (e.g., for food or warmth). Pups also make high-pitched grunts and squeaks when they nurse. As they grow older, the mewing sound changes into a whine, which carries over into adulthood as an expression of greeting, submission, or desire. Whining is more characteristic of dogs than of wolves (which whine only when expressing submission), and this is probably due to unintentional reinforcement by owners. Young puppies learn quickly what whining will do when their owners continually reinforce this behavior to get them to stop. A classic illustration of this is the puppy who whines the first night she is separated from her littermates. The owner, feeling sorry for her, takes her into bed and lets her sleep there. The puppy learns a fateful lesson in communication, and her whining quickly becomes generalized to any situation of want.

A growl communicates threat and antagonism. It is a warning and may be accompanied with a snarl (i.e., baring of teeth). Young canine puppies growl when they play, thereby learning proper canine etiquette; as they mature, the growl is usually serious. With wolves, it is used by a more dominant wolf over a subordinate and is usually enough to elicit submission. Dogs can utilize the growl in the same way, and if it is directed toward an owner, it signifies the dog’s attempt to assume dominance. An example of this might be an owner getting too close to her pup when she is eating. The puppy may utter a low growl as if to say, “Stay away!” If the owner backs off, the pup easily begins applying this behavior to other situations that challenge the person’s position of authority.

Most domestic dogs bark much more frequently than wolves, probably as a result of selective breeding. Since an early goal of domestication was to have dogs guard and warn, it is clear why they were bred for their barking ability. Wolves, being hunters that do not wish to alert potential prey, bark only in specific situations, such as a warning to other pack members or to the pups that a stranger is approaching. The bark is a short, quiet woof and is generally not repeated.

Domestic dogs bark anytime they are excited. Barks are short and sharp, and the tonal quality reflects meaning. High barks are associated with greetings, such as your puppy’s excited welcome when you come home; when prolonged and frantic, these vocalizations will accompany pain and/or stress and are described as yelps. Warning barks are deeper and alert you that something is up, such as the preliminary bark of the watchdog. The aggressive bark is deeper still and communicates threat. It alternates with growling to send an unmistakable message.

Howling is more common in wolves than in dogs and is their major form of vocalization. It is a prolonged tone, lasting from two to eleven seconds, and may fluctuate over a wide range of notes. Each wolf’s howl is distinct, which seems to suggest that individual wolves can be identified by their vocalizations. Specialists feel that wolves howl for a number of reasons: to reassemble the pack after they have been scattered during a hunt, to advertise territory, or simply to perform a collective celebratory rite. Wolves howl both alone and in chorus, and when they howl together they avoid unison, apparently preferring chord tones.

Dogs howl much less frequently than wolves, though the sound is normal in northern breeds such as huskies and malamutes, as well as in hounds. In our kennel work, we notice that many huskies and malamutes howl shortly after their owners leave them, presumably as an expression of loneliness, and we have periodically experienced the howling of our shepherds, most frequently while we ourselves are singing. Evidently the harmonies they hear encourage them to join in with their own notes.

[akaluan]

Erich/Kisuke/Alexis: Soulmate AU + Character in Peril Part 7

Erich seats himself at his desk, Alexis still practically glued to his side, and takes a moment to clear the paperwork away as best he can with only one hand. He’s not about to pry his other hand free, not when he’s still soaking up her presence, but it does make things… difficult.

Alexis helps with her free hand, and together they mostly clear things away. It’s not in the neatest of piles, but he can fix that later.

(Or just spread them all back out again.)

(Which is what will probably end up happening.)

“Here, sir, ma’am,” Tanya says as she sets a coffee pot and several mugs on the newly cleared area of his desk, then sets up an extra camp chair across from them. “I’m afraid it isn’t much, ma’am, but it’s the best I can do.”

“It’s not a problem, Colonel Degurechaff,” Alexis answers as she reaches out and lifts the pot, carefully pouring some coffee into all three mugs. She pushes one towards Degurechaff then lifts her own and takes a sip, wrinkling her nose at the taste. “No wonder you’ve decided you hate coffee, love, if this is what they give you.”

Erich snorts and lifts his own mug, cradling it against his chest for the warmth more than anything. “Tea is a vastly superior drink, you heathen,” he tells Alexis dryly, not missing the flash of amusement in Degurechaff’s gaze at his words.

“I’ll keep that in mind, sir,” she says almost archly, then hums and looks between them, gaze lingering on the way their shoulders and arms are pressed together. He can see the questions beginning to bubble up, but she drops her gaze and takes a drink, and when she looks at them again it’s all tucked away behind her professional demeanor. “What’s our plan?” she asks instead.

Alexis makes a thoughtful noise, then nudges him with her shoulder and says, “Maybe you should start with filling me in.”

“Right.” Erich grimaces and takes a sip of his coffee, wondering where to even begin with the mess that’s been his life the past few days. He supposes he might as well just list it all off like he’s reporting to someone else, so—

He takes another sip of coffee. Orders his thoughts. Begins.

He tells her everything, starting from the attack that managed to wipe out a portion of their camp and most of the other officers; the moment he pulled power from both of them, the nightly visits where their unknown soulmate healed him, the murdered enemy soldiers, the discovery their soulmate is a Reaper—

“Excuse me?” Alexis hisses, interrupting his recitation. Her left hand tightens on the mug, knuckles going white as anger-fear-fury slices through their connection.

“Yes, I was quite displeased to discover that as well,” he responds, squeezing the hand he’s holding in reassurance and letting her feel the fear-terror-resignation that he’s kept inside since that first night of disturbed rest.

Degurechaff chokes on her coffee and gives him an incredulous look for his phrasing, which is fair considering everything he’s put her through the past few days.

“There were other emotions involved, of course,” Erich concedes with a faint smile, tipping his half-filled mug towards her in recognition. “Colonel Degurechaff has done a fine job of keeping me alive and the Reaper on his toes.”

“Just doing my job, sir.”

Erich arches an eyebrow at her. “I wasn’t aware your job had expanded to handling matters related to secret societies and unknown powers, Colonel.”

“My current job is keeping us all alive, sir, and that includes you,” she tells him firmly, her gaze unwavering and her determination almost tangible. “You’re our commanding officer and we can’t afford to take any more losses to our command structure.”

He bites back a scoff just in time; their command structure is the two of them, with help from Majors Weiss and Schwarz as they have time and ability. To say they can’t afford to take any more losses to their command structure is more of an understatement than him saying he was just displeased with the discovery that his other soulmate is a Reaper.

Alexis smiles at Degurechaff and inclines her head, saying, “I appreciate the job you’ve done—”

The tent flap sways and that’s all the warning Erich gets before Alexis lets go of his hand and vaults over his desk, scattering papers everywhere as her spiritual bow flares to life and an arrow is shoved under their second soulmate’s chin.

“So good to finally meet you,” she tells the Reaper, tone sickly sweet as she nudges his head back with the point of her arrow.

“Aha… I don’t quite understand you…” the Reaper says awkwardly, empty hands raised in surrender. “You have quite the reflexes, though!”

Erich sighs heavily and drains the last of his coffee, far too tired to deal with any of this at present. A tiny portion of his mind is gibbering in terror, but he shuts it out; two against one and they might even have a chance, if their soulmate finally decides to turn on them now that they’re both in one place.

(Really, he’s just too tired to waste any more energy on fear.)

Degurechaff sidles up to him, her eyes wide and her gaze constantly drifting towards Alexis’ bow. “Sir… is there… she’s… holding something, isn’t she. I can almost see… a bow?”

He hums and reaches over to grab the miraculously unspilled coffee pot to pour himself a bit more. “It’s another manifestation of the spiritual powers I told you about,” he confirms, not bothering to censor himself when Degurechaff already knows so much and is on the verge of awakening thanks to him. “I believe it’s a Quincy specialty, actually. We compress the free power in the air into the shape of a weapon and fight Hollows with it instead of physical items.”

“A bow, sir,” Degurechaff deadpans as she takes a step back, giving him room to rise to his feet.

“It’s traditional.”

“A bow, sir.”

Erich shrugs and takes a sip of coffee, stepping around the desk and moving so he can see both the Reaper and Alexis at once. He feels… calm. Detached. Peaceful.

He holds out his right hand and calls power under his control. “I’m not very traditional, if I’m being honest,” he says as he sets his mug down and raises a manifested rifle to his shoulder. “It’s much easier to keep in practice with a weapon I can be seen using without question, after all.”

Degurechaff huffs and circles around behind him, coming to stand a bit to the side where she can see everyone but isn’t standing in the path of any of their weapons. Her hand reaches up to touch her computation orb and a steady glow begins to build within it. “Why are you here?” she demands, tone bored.

“I felt—I mean, they were clearly in distress so—”

“They were talking about you being a Shinigami,” Degurechaff counters, glowering at the Reaper. “It was all very civil and calm until you decided to barge in yet again.”

The Reaper gives a nervous chuckle that cuts off as Alexis presses her arrow a bit further into the skin under his chin. “Uhm… sorry? I mean, if it helps, I’m really not a Shinigami anymore?”

“It really doesn’t,” Erich says with a small shrug, then gives up on his broken Akitsugo and says in Imperial, “You were still a member of the force that slaughtered my people down to newborn infants, without mercy or reprieve.”

Degurechaff translates that for him without being asked — he still needs to ask when she learned the language, damn — and then scowls and adds, “You clearly didn’t consider my earlier words like I told you to, if that’s the line you’re still going with.”

“I wasn’t exactly part of that action!” the Reaper protests.

“Neither was I,” Erich counters with annoyance. “It was almost a hundred years ago, but my family is still recovering from your people’s actions. Events like that leave long and deep scars on everyone who comes after, Shinigami.”

(What scars will this war create, he wonders.)

(What new hatred is being sown by their actions that will come to confront them later?)

(He dreads the day it comes due…)

The Reaper frowns as Degurechaff translates, curiosity-thought-confusion glittering in his eyes as he seems to almost… pull in on himself, becoming somehow smaller as he does.

(‘…actions of someone trained in assassination…’)

The breath hisses through his teeth and he casually adjusts his grip on his manifested rifle, focusing more strength into the bullets inside.

Alexis’ bow and arrow become more solid, spiritual power compacting until it’s almost physical.

(They’ll need all their strength if this goes sour…)

Degurechaff twitches and glances at him out of the corner of her eye. He can feel her, can feel her soul unfurling under the weight that he and Alexis are spilling into the air around them. She feels… strange to his senses; a jumble of old-young-cold logic-sharp passion that almost makes his first, fearful reaction to her return but—

But after so many years, after working alongside her for so long, turning strategies into action and victory and success he—

Can’t.

(She’s no longer the monster he fears most.)

She must sense something from him, because she flashes him a sharp, toothy grin and then turns back to the Reaper with her chin raised. “Leave,” she orders without hesitation. “We’ll talk with you another night, but for now you will leave and you will not intrude where you are not invited again.”

The Reaper watches her for a long moment and Erich tenses, waiting for  the man to take offense at the newly awoken human. Except…

The man huffs a laugh and steps back, moving away from Alexis and towards the opening of the tent, relaxing his shoulders when Alexis doesn’t follow him. “Maa, that’s quite a Lieutenant you have there. She’s a cute little spitfire!”

Degurechaff’s face twists into a snarl and rage erupts in her presence. She takes a step forward, magical power gathering around her and—

Erich moves. Takes one hand from his rifle and grips Degurechaff’s shoulder in restraint even as he glares at the Reaper. “Do not insult my subordinate,” he growls, every word carefully pronounced. “She is a Lieutenant Colonel and she earned her rank and her place at my side.”

The Reaper makes a confused noise, looking between them. “But… aren’t you her Captain?”

“He’s a Brigadier General, not a Captain!” Degurechaff snarls, practically vibrating under his hand. But she’s not fighting his grip, no matter her fury, just standing beside him like a leashed hound, waiting for him to let go.

(It’s not a terribly comforting thought.)

(And yet it’s a terribly comforting thought…)

The Reaper blinks, gaze darting between them, clearly at a loss for words.

“You… do you even know what a General is?” Degurechaff asks in a strangled voice. When all the Reaper does is point at Erich and say ‘him?’, she groans. “How is your society even structured then? I had assumed you had a military, but…”

“We are,” the Reaper says, but his voice is almost a question. “There’s… there’s thirteen divisions, each led by a Captain and a Lieutenant, then eight more seated positions below, Third through Tenth Seat. Each division is independent, but each Captain ultimately answers to the Captain-Commander, who leads the First Division.”

Erich opens his mouth, searching for the words to express his horror, and comes up blank. At his side, Degurechaff is utterly still, echoes of hysterical disbelief rippling through her presence.

(He rather agrees with her.)

(What the hell?)

“Sir,” Degurechaff says almost mechanically, looking up at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. “Sir, if that’s what’s waiting for us on the other side, I think my new life’s goal is to live forever.”

He bites back the almost hysterical laughter that wants to rise, completely agreeing with Degurechaff even if he’d never join the Reapers anyway.

(How could a place so terrifying be so… disorganized?)

(That… that wasn’t a way to run an efficient military at all!)

“What did he say?” Alexis asks, her gaze still fixed on the Reaper but her bow slightly lowered to point towards the ground.

“He said… Degurechaff, correct me if I misunderstood, but… he said that there are thirteen independent divisions of Reapers, each one led by a Captain and Lieutenant.” He glances down at Degurechaff, hoping that she’ll correct his understanding, but all she does is grimace and nod in agreement. He’d really hoped he’d understood wrong, but all he can do is continue his translation. “There are also several ranked but unnamed officer positions below them, and the highest rank is the Captain-Commander, who leads one of the divisions…”

Alexis blinks, frowns, and then shoots the Reaper an incredulous look. “Hearing that, I have to wonder…”

Erich shrugs awkwardly and lets go of Degurechaff’s shoulder in order to rub at his temple. “Records mention that the initial demands came from an old man claiming to be the Captain Commander, which I always thought was a strange translation, but… maybe not.”

Tanya scoffs and shakes her head, stepping forward to put herself between Erich and the Reaper again. “Thirteen mostly independent units and they all agreed on genocide,” she mutters under her breath, words clearly not intended for Erich to hear. Before Erich can ask — she’s mentioned genocide twice in relation to him now, and he can guess at the meaning, but… where did some come up with a word like that…? — she clears her throat and switches to Akitsugo to say, “While we appreciate your explanations, this is still not the time for continuing this conversation. We will… call… for you later, as we’ve already done once before. Please refrain from returning until then.”

The Reaper stares at her for a moment, then sends an almost pleading look at Erich, who shakes his head and tips his manifested rifle back up a few inches in warning. The gesture seems to get through to him at least, because he sighs and takes another step backwards.

“Maa, well, if that’s the way it is—”

“It is.”

“Ahahahaha, well… I guess I’ll be going then! Have a good evening, everyone~” the man says with a level of forced cheer that sets Erich’s teeth on edge, before he darts out of the tent and away at last.

Erich waits a moment. Two. Slowly lets his rifle dissolve back into spirit particles and takes a shaky step backwards, another, feels his knees give way and—

Alexis’ arms wrap around his chest and pull him tight to her, taking most of his weight without issue. “You’re okay,” she murmurs into his ear as she presses a kiss to the side of his neck. “He’s gone, beloved, it’s alright to rest. I’ll guard you…”

He smiles faintly. “You’ll need to take that armor off first if you intend to sleep with me,” he teases her, amusement growing as he spots Degurechaff rolling her eyes and pointedly looking away. “I assume you, Colonel, we won’t be doing anything inappropriate,” he says, unable to resist teasing Degurechaff as well.

Degurechaff snorts. “You wouldn’t be the first,” she says archly, then pauses as he grows still and narrows his eyes. Understanding suddenly flares to life and she hastens to say, “It was never while we were deployed—”

“That’s not my concern, Colonel.”

She gives him a deadpan look, eyes trailing to Alexis’ arms wrapped around him and then back up. “Sir, this is the military.”

She’s right and he hates that she’s right; he knows of at least four relationships currently going on amongst his own men, and knows that there are plenty of others finding comfort in their fellow soldiers’ arms without committing to anything. It’s a fact of life that everyone simply turns a blind eye to, but for people to be so careless as to do it where a child — no matter how precocious or hardened by war — can find them…

“I do hope that nothing has happened, at least?” he asks leadingly, finding the strength to push a bit away from Alexis to stand on his own.

“I’m fine, sir, no one’s ever tried anything. And a few small fireballs serves to break things up without problem.”

Alexis laughs, bright and sharp, and drapes across his back to peer at Degurechaff. “Oh, I like her, Erich,” she says with a grin. “Colonel Degurechaff, allow me to extend an invitation to visit us at our home someday. If you ever have need of a place to stay or a noble family’s backing, come see me and we’ll have a discussion.”

Degurechaff blinks, her smooth expression broken by surprise while her aura almost screams shock-glee-excitement to anyone sensitive. She looks to him in disbelief, questioning his wife’s words and—

He nods.

(Once, he would have agreed only to save face.)

(But now… well… she deserves a chance to do whatever she wants with her life after the war is over, doesn’t she?)

(And after everything she’s done for him… patronage and support is the least he can offer.)

“Thank you,” she breathes, a true, happy smile curling at the corners of her lips. “I… will probably take you up on that at some point.” Then she gives her head a shake and steps back, smile tucked away behind professionalism as she salutes him. “I’ll give you two some time alone, sir, ma’am, but I’m still going to be sleeping in here tonight. We can discuss changing arrangements later, but I figure more is better at this stage.”

“You’re probably correct, Colonel,” Alexis agrees with a nod. “Thank you for your consideration.”

Dugerechaff nods and marches out of the tent, leaving them alone at last and—

He’s so tired.

“Let’s get you into bed, my love,” Alexis murmurs as she carefully pulls him back, one step at a time. She slips out from behind him in order to push him down onto his bed, then begins to unlatch and set aside her armor. “I can feel your exhaustion and I’m certain Degurechaff can as well, now that she’s aware.”

Erich groans at the idea and leans forward to fumble his boots and socks off. “Just what I needed, the Devil of the Rhine having spiritual powers,” he grumbles without any real annoyance. It will mean he needs to keep an eye on her a bit more than before, and probably give her some pointers on how to train her abilities so she isn’t a giant beacon to every Hollow around, but… she’s intelligent and driven and sharp. There’s a reason she was awarded the Silver Wings badge so young and early in her career, and no matter how much he tried to stop it at the time, he knew she deserved the award.

(Nine years old and already a hero.)

(Nine years old and already a monster.)

(When did he stop fearing her…?)

Alexis chuckles and slides into bed next to him, gently pulling him down to lay with his back against her chest. It’s a tight fit, barely enough room for them to lay like this, but… it’s comfortable.

It’s safe.

Her breath against his neck. Her hand on his chest. Her leg over his.

He’s trapped, pinned by her weight, and yet—

He’s safe.

(He sleeps and dreams do not disturb him.)

(He’s safe.)

[the-creeping-shadow]

Shade’s OCs

Here is a list with all OCs I have so far, including fandom and non-fandom OCs. Some of these might appear new to you (if you have been following me for a while); some might seem familiar. I offer this as a reference, but also as a way to talk about characters a bit. No facts are set in stone; questions and such are always welcome ^^

I’ll start with the ones I’ve already introduced here.

Fandom OCs/Fan characters

Anna Haas My Outlast fan character who exists in an AU based on The Murkoff Account. The result of the question “what if the baby was real?” that appeared in my head one day, Anna exists in several iterations depending on several factors.

Her introduction into the world was more than a little messy; the assault on her mother, Michelle, resulted in Anna being born way too early and spending the first months of her existence in NICU. Obviously she survived the whole ordeal. Under the care of her mother Anna turned into an overall friendly and optimistic child who is very close to her parent, albeit often worried about her given the trauma Michelle endured (which she tries to hide in front of Anna, but the psychological consequences still show up).  She’s a headstrong person, determined to pursue any goal she sets for herself, and has a certain tendency to want to take on a leading role in whatever project or even game she is involved in. These traits carry over when she grows up. The past of her family very much interests her even if the truth about her father and her parents’ involvement in Mt. Massive end up taking a toll on her world perception. She becomes more reserved, perhaps even more irritable in certain aspects after the “revelation”, but sets on a quest to find out what exactly ended up happening to her father with a goal to find disclosure and a peace of mind - a dangerous endeavour perhaps, but one she considers worth the risk. The outcome of all this will ultimately depend on two major variables in her story...

Kyniera the Imp A DOOM OC heavily inspired by the codex entries in 2016 and various headcanons I developed about the species’ biology. Not entirely compliant with the lore presented in DOOM Eternal, as she was created before the new game came out; so to some degree she might exist in some AU as well.

A determined survivalist long used to the harsh ways of Hell that are not that much friendlier to demons than they are to any other life forms (especially so if you are a low-ranked Imp - considered nothing more than cannon fodder), Kyniera is an Imp who has gathered enough experience and a certain amount of caution as a result to survive longer than many others of her breed. This, coupled with a growing sense of self-awareness that is present in older Imps only, makes her suitable to take the role of pack leader in any Imp group she finds herself in. If not leader, then at least someone who is confident enough to influence group decisions, especially when it comes to hunting. An unfortunate event has resulted in her, among other lower beasts, being captured by higher-ranking demons and carried off to a combat arena in the depths of Hell to fight against oftentimes stronger opponents for the sheer amusement of Hell denizens but also to test the physical prowess of the members of Hell’s armies, including herself. Kyniera, much to everyone’s surprise perhaps, has proven to be a particularly resilient Imp, showing good knowledge of how to use her innate fire ability and agility to her advantage, becoming somewhat of a “pet” in the arena. Not necessarily a good thing for the Imp as the arena masters and spectators were probably more curious to see how long she will prevail mentally, out of sheer sadistic delight. However, one losing fight convinces her to turn tail and run eventually - and she manages to escape the arena, overcoming her own fears. With a growing hatred towards the “higher-ups” and an unwillingness to die for anyone, Kyniera wishes to distance herself from all Hell politicking and solely focus her efforts on survival and hunting alone. An endeavour that may not come easy as she still ends up getting caught in the crossfire of intra-Hell conflicts between warring factions which ultimately sends her down a path that just may lead to a particular metamorphosis...

Non-fandom OCs

Synth Rex Synth is an old and powerful daemon lord* who rules over an entire realm. He appears to be a cheerful and playful person who interprets almost everything as a game of sorts. Whatever is said or even done to him, Synth will keep smiling and talking in a friendly and ofttimes jolly way. This demeanour keeps showing even if Synth is experiencing negative emotions - as a way to keep up his composure, but also as a way to “troll” people, especially so if they appear more hostile. With his mindset mostly revolving around the maintenance of his realm, Synth is willing to do a lot of things to ensure the prosperity of it.  He can be described as a scholar of sorts since he enjoys reading and travelling throughout the multiverse to learn and explore different dimensions, the people, cultures etc. It's one of the more effective ways for Synth to occupy himself and prevent boredom. Other occupations may be training, alchemy, and watching individuals and events having managed to pique his interest, especially if they feature revenge. Unlike my fandom OCs, there is no set storyline for this universe. It’s more of an open world revolving around Synth’s realm and his family as well.

Elizabeth Morgan Elizabeth is a fairly old and mighty daemon and Synth's lover. Elizabeth is what one can describe as a willful and self-confident woman who will not let others influence her in a negative way or push her around. Charming, elegant, and equipped with experience collected over 712 years of her life, Elizabeth prefers to use social skills to go about many matters. This is further helped by her mind control abilities which she can use quite deftly, provided an entity is not more powerful than her. She will often meet others with an overall pleasant demeanour, polite, respectful, and decent, simultaneously confident and not afraid of speaking her mind. Greater slights against her or her family will leave a bitter taste in her mouth and will not be forgotten so easily. As a daemon, Elizabeth has no inhibitions about using her mind control abilities to further her goals. She can be a manipulative person who likes to use a person's mental weak points to convince them of acting or thinking in a way benefiting her. When talking proves to be futile, Elizabeth is still capable of defending herself and will not hesitate to do so: like others of her species, she possesses enhanced strength and the ability to shapeshift into a fearsome daemon form.

Shannon Rex [picture not yet available on Tumblr] Shannon is the first and eldest of Synth and Elizabeth's children. Shannon had had a shapeshifting "accident" at the age of three months, having transformed into an indescribable, amorphous shape which appears to be their daemon form, which significantly differs from the usual form. Ever since, Shannon has to struggle with shapeshifting slips a lot, though their powers are getting better as time passes and they become an adult. Shannon is an introverted and reserved person, somewhat taciturn. Serious and determined, Shannon mostly occupies themselves with books and training and might not necessarily be a person who is in for the "silly" type of fun. Having been raised by a caring, but strict father who has set a firm schedule for his child and having been around their father's subordinates a lot, Shannon is disciplined and generally well-behaved. Due to their problems with the shapeshifting power and initially slow telekinesis, Shannon tends to be insecure about themselves, constantly questioning their worth and might. However, with frequent training units and being the offspring of a daemon lord, it might just be a matter of time until Shannon actually becomes powerful.

Cynthia Rex [picture not yet available on Tumblr] Cynthia is the second and youngest of Synth and Elizabeth's children. Cynthia is a happy and jolly six-year-old child (there is a huge age gap between the children), always curious and with a tendency to ask a lot of questions concerning how things work and what they are. She also has a bit of a mischievous streak and will attempt to play pranks once in a while. Close to her family, she is pretty much seldom seen anywhere away from a family member unless she decides to explore her father's castle on her own. Around strangers Cynthia becomes quiet and will cling to whatever family member is accompanying her at a time. As a child she is unaware of a lot of things existing in the multiverse and has a generally optimist attitude, though she knows not to trust people she does not know, which is mostly because of her family frequently telling her that she should not trust anyone outside of her family and her father's subordinates. Cynthia has recently begun undergoing training units in addition to lessons, which often leave her tired.

Thetis The result of my fascination with sharks, the desire to design a mermaid based on the great white shark, and depicting sharks in a positive light while maintaining the fact that they are (majestic) predators by nature.

Thetis is a very curious and inquisitive great white shark mermaid. While Thetis tends towards the introvert side of the spectrum, she is still open to talking with others, always willing to learn new things. She meets others with a friendly appearance and will not, contrary to what might be said about sharks and shark mermaids, seek any hostile intentions whatsoever as long as she is not agitated or hunting prey. Even though she has no inhibitions about killing other living things (specifically prey), she does so only for the sake of self-preservation and would scoff at others for "wasting" a kill, or put differently, for killing and harming other living things for any other reason than self-preservation. Still, Thetis does enjoy the thrill of the hunt itself and will speak rather openly about hunting if it ever comes to that. Depending on which universe she is set in, Thetis may dislike humans (or other humanoids, depending) for all the things they are doing to sharks and maybe even mermaids. However, she would never actively go against any unless the human provokes her intentionally.

Xenia Used to be a fan character of mine before I decided to rewrite her entire story and include her as a non-fandom OC in my own multiverse. As a result there are still gaps in her story, though her personality/concept remains similar.

An agent working under Synth Rex among his ranks. Xenia has endured an excruciating, unhappy childhood that left her permanently scarred - physically and mentally. An escape from her world, after she has exacted revenge on her tormentors, was offered by Lord Rex, who had become interested in her story, promising a better future for her. While Xenia was hesitant to take his offer to work for him first, she accepted it and ended up in a better position after all, as she perceives it. Still, her life has left her bitter, cynic, and mistrustful. While she tries to keep up a good relationship with her fellow agents, approaching her is still difficult as she prefers a solitary lifestyle, slow to trust anyone. Her manner of speech tends to be sarcastic often. Xenia belongs to an unspecified human-like species, possessing powerful telekinetic abilities that have developed and strengthened as she grew up. It was this power that allowed her to turn her "fate" over.

        *the depiction of the daemon might drastically differ from “canonical” mythological depictions in places. These characters exist in a multiverse created by me and thus adhere to lore created by myself.

[laceymorganwrites]

Rag Doll

Word Count: 3,705

Pairing: Akutagawa x reader

Warnings: swearing i guess

A/N: i love this edgy Boy, don´t think i wrote him well tho...

(Y/E/O/N) = your enemy´s organization´s name

The headquarters of the Port Mafia illuminated the city of Yokohama, keeping control over it in its central location. Being an organization of this size and importance could be stressful at times, especially if certain members were to go on their own all the time. But in the end they fulfilled their missions and kept everything how it should be. Missions could be tiring however and even the Port Mafia needed to rest and relax sometimes.

If one were to turn in a little corner by the train station, they were to encounter a certain bar, the Rag Doll. It wasn´t just an ordinary bar, oh no, it was the base of an underground information gathering organization that had close ties to the Mafia and worked together with the major organization.

The organization was led by none other than (Y/N) (Y/L/N). Being a former soldier and spy for several organizations you were sick of following orders and fighting for a cause you didn´t believe in.

It did have its perks working in a bar visited by infamous criminals who were dependent on you, such as gossip and protection.

Oh and the poor souls who entered the bar on this very night…

“Could you spare some chlorine?” Dazai asked with gleaming eyes, making you roll your eyes.

“Didn´t you want to die without being a burden to anyone? What kind of image would my bar have if people heard I served chlorine? I have normal costumers too, believe it or not” you scolded the brunet, crossing your arms and shaking your head. Dazai squinted his eyes. “You´re not making this easy for me...” he mumbled.

“People like you don´t deserve an easy death, that´d be quite anticlimactic now, wouldn´t it?” you giggled, having known Dazai quite a while throughout your carrier of changing carriers so often.

Dazai smirked. “I guess you´re right...” he gave in and you placed a glass of whiskey before him.

He stared at it lost in his thoughts while you served the other costumers, meanwhile learning new info on several enemy organizations from your colleagues. “(Y/E/O/N), huh? They´ve been a pain for quite a while now actually...” you thought out loud.

As you stepped in front of Dazai again, his face lit up. “So you´ve been having trouble with them too?” he asked, a suggestive undertone in his voice. You rolled your eyes but couldn´t help but smile. “Wanna team up?” you finally asked… but didn´t get the reaction you anticipated.

“Maybe you can teach my subordinate how not to be a complete failure” he chuckled.

Your happy expression changed into a stone cold one. “He´s just a kid, Dazai” you said through gritted teeth. “He´s not that much younger than me, you know? And yet… he´s just too… unstable” he said in a disgusted voice, it enraged you. “As if you´re one to talk about mental stability! He´s from the slums, you have to understand how hard it must be for him… but instead you just had to make him a perfect weapon, a soldier… you disgust me, Dazai” maybe Akutagawa´s situation made you this emotional because he reminded you of himself, ripped out of a shitty environment, forced to work in a worse one. He didn´t have a chance to choose, he didn´t even have a say in it. You sure pitied the kid. “Do you know how dangerous he would be with an ability like this if I didn´t raise him right? He´s far too uncontrolled with his ability to let him out of my sight” Dazai defended himself, but you weren´t going to give in that easily. “Don´t give me that crap, Dazai! If you would actually have some decency and kindness, hell patience would be enough! If you keep treating him like you do, he´s gonna grow up feeling like a worthless piece of shit. You know, I´m really asking myself why you saved him when you couldn´t care less. People like you shouldn´t be put in charge of people like him!” you glared at him. Dazai just tilted his head, chuckling.

“You seem to care very much about him” he noticed.

You started cleaning the counter, grunting at his comment. “Maybe it´s just because unlike you I´m a decent fucking person” you grumbled.

“I doubt that...you´re a master at your craft after all, and that is deceiving people. But I have to give it to you, nobody does it quite like you” he sighed dreamily.

You clenched your jaw and stared him down. “Why thank you” you chuckled bitterly.

He knew damn well why you did the things you did, it was out of the need for money and because you were forced, to be fair you did it because you liked it now but that was a different story.

Dazai stared at you for a while with an amused expression on his face while you still held your cold one. “Well, that was a fun night. I´ll see you tomorrow” Dazai put down the money for the drink on the counter and left the bar, leaving you with a headache.

When you arrived to work in the next morning Dazai and Akutagawa were already there.

“Good morning, (Y/N)” Dazai smiled at you, but you didn´t respond. Instead you checked in on your coworkers and caught up on the information needed for the mission.

“As you all should know by now, today is the day we raid (Y/E/O/N)´s base and attack them! We will crush them, I don´t accept failure today. This is too important. Alright everybody, commence your positions and don´t die on me, we´re already short staffed. Good luck, guys, see you in the evening” you gave a little pep talk and were about to get ready for your part of the job as well.

That was when you remembered Dazai and his subordinate were still there. “You´re still here? Don´t you have your own plan on taking them out? Starting a massacre or something?” you teased to which Dazai scoffed.

“I wish you were wrong… most of us follow the plan you assigned to us, but we do have our little troublemakers” he shot a glare at Akutagawa who clenched his jaw.

“Okay then, why are you still sitting around here? Don´t you have something useful to do? Come on, Dazai, you must have planned some wicked scheme” you placed your hand on his shoulder. He just chuckled. “Maybe I do… but more importantly, could you take care of my subordinate today. I can´t risk him screwing up again” he muttered, making you frown.

“Don´t give them any trouble and follow their orders, do you understand?” Dazai turned to Akutagawa. He nodded, still not looking up.

You sighed. “I´m getting dressed, Dazai, explain the plan to him, I´ll be right back” you rushed into the backroom and put on the clothes you picked out for the mission.

(Y/E/O/N) was known for holding illegal auctions and you planned on infiltrating one and destroying them from the inside.

After you joined them again, Dazai left you alone.

“It´s nice to finally meet you, Akutagawa” you told him. “I heard very much about you. And before we begin I need you to know that you´re not a failure. I know that we will succeed. You just have to trust in your own strength, because others won´t always be there to do so” you said, but didn´t get any reaction out of him.

“The weak don´t have a right to live” he replied like a mantra.

You frowned, slowly placing a hand on his shoulder. He shuddered at the contact but let your hand remain.

“But you´re not weak…” you reassured him.

His eye twitched at your words but you paid it no mind.

He irritated you, of course you got why he would have such a mindset, growing up in his environment it was only natural. But being saved from such circumstances one ought to be utterly traumatized, grateful to their savior. Normally such Darwinism should vanish from his thoughts, so why was it that he still strove to be the strongest? As if he wasn´t worth being alive otherwise.

Dazai must´ve fucked him up worse than the slums, you thought.

“You´re under no obligation to prove anything to anyone” you told him in all honesty.

“I know. Let´s finish the mission” he said through clenched teeth, apparently you hit a nerve.

In silence you walked to the location and infiltrated it successfully.

“Secure the entrances, make sure nobody can leave. There´s gonna be a massacre here shortly, it would be a shame if anybody missed it” you smirked, distracting people while Akutagawa imprisoned the people.

“Now that was easy, let´s get to the fun part, shall we?” you smiled and started slicing people up with the knives hidden in your clothes.

Akutagawa joined you with his Rashomon and you finished the mission in short time.

Your colleagues would clean up later.

You had a few hours before you had to head back to work so you went home to relax a bit. Akutagawa was gone before you could even say goodbye.

Somehow you felt as if you screwed up, you´d never get to know him now.

But who could blame him? The act of surviving that was his life so far couldn´t be called living, he merely existed, it was easier with thick walls all around him. It was easier if he didn´t let anybody in.

Hell, it even made sense, so why were you so glum about it?

Why was it that you cared so much about him? Why did you want to understand him so badly? You never wanted to be the person to fix other people and force them to face their problems but why did you feel like that was who you were right now?

In the course of the next weeks you ran into Dazai and Akutagawa multiple times, the Mafia and your organization worked close together very often nowadays.

Akutagawa still was distant towards you, not even looking at you while doing missions together.

Your current target was Mimic, Dazai and his friends were involved very closely.

After researching their base and handing the information over to the Mafia you considered your job done and in the evening you wandered through the city, not feeling tired at all.

Something was keeping you awake.

Well, you still couldn´t wrap your head around Akutagawa, but that was silly.

You walked to your favorite spot in the hills where you had a beautiful view of the city.

Sighing you sat down on the bench and stared at the city lights that gleamed in the night sky.

“Dazai-san partnered us up for the mission tomorrow” you didn´t even hear him coming.

Staying in your position, now forcing yourself to look straight ahead and not at him, you nodded.

“Beautiful, isn´t it?” you mumbled, talking about the view.

Akutagawa nodded, thinking about you.

“Dazai must really hate you, huh?” you chuckled, finally looking up to him with sad eyes.

He frowned. “Why?” he asked, stalking closer to you, eventually sitting next to you on the bench.

“Come on, every time we have a mission, we get paired up. Because Dazai´s twisted like that, you know?” you shook your head.

Dazai was another person you couldn´t wrap your head around. Were you friends? Were you enemies? Something in between?

“So that´s how you see it…” he mumbled.

“Dazai´s so sadistic, everyone can see you hate my guts, but no he just has to have us work together. I don´t know what he promises himself from that, but it´s Dazai, you never know with him” you thought out loud.

“If you say so…” Akutagawa said in an annoyed tone.

“Why are you even here? I mean, I could´ve found out we were paired up again by myself tomorrow, there was no need for you to tell me in person like this.” you thought out loud.

“I like this place, didn´t know you were here” he lied, looking down to his feet.

You groaned, you really didn´t want to say anything but you just had to.

“You told me the weak don´t deserve to live when we first met, remember? But I´ve always wondered: did you mean the mentally weak or the physically weak? And what about those who evolve to be strong? Either way, you should´ve killed me after that statement” you rambled.

Akutagawa held his breath, how were you able to scratch at his walls like that? Question him like that? And bring up his past and personal issues? How could you read him like that?

“Being weak and thinking you´re weak are two different things” he said flat out, making you laugh.

He frowned. “What´s so funny?” he crossed his arms.

“Nothing, I just didn´t think you actually had a reason not to kill me” your words came out sounding more annoyed than you actually were.

“Tch, you irritate me” Akutagawa said through clenched teeth.

You groaned. “Oh really? Why is that? Because I speak my mind? Are you so unused to that? I have so many more reasons to be irritated by you than you!” you raised your voice, turning to face him.

“I don´t think I have the same effect on you as you have on me” he told you plainly, making you even more confused.

“What the hell is that even supposed to mean? Can´t you just say what you mean once in your life?” you fumed.

“Why should I do that if I don´t know its consequences?” he questioned, now that perplexed you quite a bit. He didn´t seem like a guy who thought about the consequences of his actions.

“You know, maybe I should hate you. It´s easier that way” Akutagawa stated, not waiting for you to say anything, he just vanished without another word.

He left you wondering what just happened.

Great, the day before the mission you really wanted a good night´s sleep, but now he ruined it.

You hated your brain for it but you would think about him all night, unable to sleep.

You also hated your predictions to become true in the next morning when you had to meet up with Akutagawa.

Luckily his declaration of last night also meant he ignored you, you really weren´t in the mood for talking.

All the talking was broken down into information necessary for the mission.

In silence the two of you walked to the location, at first you thought you were too late, but in fact you were just in time.

Well, too late for the plan you worked so hard and long on, but just in time to step into action and stop Mimic´s leader who was about to kill Odasaku, Dazai´s friend.

Normally you would´ve waited and hidden in a safe spot before raiding the enemy´s base.

Now without thinking, with a mere second of analyzing the situation, you dashed forward in between the two men who were about to shoot each other.

Everything that happened happened in an instance, so fast, it almost felt like forever.

You saw something rushing toward you from the corner of your eye and the next thing you knew, black matter stabbed Mimic´s leader to death and red light illuminated you, acting as an armor, a shield of sorts.

It felt warm and yet it was over as soon as it began.

“What are you guys doing here?” Odasaku spoke up before you could voice your confusion.

Quickly you pushed the thought of what the fuck just happened to the back of your head and gave a short mission report.

“Well, some bird told us you got yourself in trouble and it´s our mission to take out Mimic anyway, so it´s kinda like killing two birds with one stone, right?” you smiled at him.

“I guess, but I had it under control” he defended himself.

“You were just about to get killed, I wouldn´t say that gives the impression of being under control”

You commented, still not grasping how lucky you were, how perfectly in time. You had to commend yourself for thinking so fast, you didn´t think you still had it in you.

“Yeah, you might be right. Well, thanks for saving me again” he showed his gratitude and went back to the mafia´s base with Akutagawa.

“Wait a second, Akutagawa!” you caught up to him.

“What was that just now? I didn´t know your ability is able of defense, you have to tell Dazai, I think he´ll be proud of you” you complimented him.

He stared at you for a while in his cold, emotionless manner, but his eyes were different than normally, there was something soft in them.

“I didn´t really think about it” he admitted.

“Well, either way, you did a good job today. Intentionally or not, you saved me, thank you. I mean it” you told him, trying to look him in the eyes but it was like he was looking right through you.

“Like I said, I didn´t mean to do it, I just did” he said sharply and joined Odasaku on his way.

You didn´t know what you expected, but some part of you had hoped he did it intentionally.

And that part hurt like hell right now.

It was ridiculous and you knew it but for some reason he got to you and you despised it.

This feeling made you so unable to concentrate and feel dizzy and it was just horrible.

You felt utter defeat when you walked back to the Rag Doll.

And as if that wasn´t enough, Dazai was the first thing that caught your eye.

He sat at the bar, flirting with the barmaid and when he saw you, he gave you an amused look.

“What´s so funny, Osamu?” you weren´t in the mood for his twisted schemes today.

“Oh nothing, just the way you can break people. I never thought my subordinate would let you get to him, and yet… and yet he hasn´t been able to think straight ever since he met you.” he sounded disgusted, like a child whose toy has been broken. Maybe it was boredom as well, you could never tell with Dazai.

You sighed and shook your head, you didn´t know whether you should laugh or cry.

“What are you trying to achieve, Dazai? I can´t handle your bullshit today, so why don´t you just tell me your true intentions for once?” you groaned, oh how you wished you could just be at home in your bed right now, away from everything that´s been going on.

“I could ask you the same thing. You accused me of not caring about Akutagawa, but if I didn´t care why would I have saved him? And yes, maybe I did fuck up in raising him, how could I not? I have never done this before. But I know one thing: if he wants to survive in this cruel world, he has to be strong. And he has to be selfish, because the world is too, nobody will care about him and he has to learn that. I can´t have you breaking his heart, I can´t have you trying to fix him, I can´t let you make him let his guard down. Because that way the world will eat him alive” Dazai told you and for once he was honest. That didn´t mean his words didn´t hurt you.

“I´m sorry, Dazai. For doubting you. You´re right, I shouldn´t be around him… but why do you keep pairing us up if you know that?” you felt your lungs squeeze together, cutting off the air, making it hard to breathe. Your heart ached and your hands started to shake as you desperately tried to fight back the tears, it was semi-working.

He chuckled, looking at you with something you could only identify as pity.

“I see the way he looks at you, Akutagawa is always so angry and stern. You somehow manage to calm him down. I´m not stupid, (Y/N). I know what you feel for him. I´m sorry about the way my words came out before, I just wanted to make sure your feelings were honest. I don´t think there´s anyone better for him than you. I have a feeling that you can tear down his walls, maybe make him more sociable… we´ll see. Either way I´m excited to see where this is going”

Dazai smiled at you.

“You´re making this seem as if I actually stand a chance...” you mumbled, you knew exactly what Akutagawa thought of you, he wouldn´t ever see you the same way you saw him.

“Dazai-san, is it true what you said? Does (Y/N) really….? Oh, excuse me”

Akutagawa came rushing through the entrance, he didn´t even see you until Dazai cleared his throat and pointed at you.

“Yes, she likes you back. I´ll leave you two alone now” Dazai mentioned casually before he left.

You almost choked on your breath and blushed heavily, you thought now was a good time to escape but your legs wouldn´t listen to you.

Both of you said nothing for a while and who could blame you? This was what one would call an exceptional awkward situation.

Akutagawa was the first to find his voice again while you were still thinking about your escape route.

“So… is it true?” he asked, not meeting your eyes. His voice was low, like he was trying to suppress something.

You gave up trying to run, what was the point in it?

“Yes” a simple word, taking a leap of faith, you let out the breath you didn´t know you held.

You couldn´t even look into his eyes, too scared of what his reaction might be.

Whatever horrible things you imagined didn´t happen.

Instead Akutagawa was… coughing? And that rather heavily.

You rushed over to him and placed your hand on his shoulder gently.

“Are you alright? Can I do something?” you asked, but he just shook his head.

After a few minutes he was done coughing and looked sideways in embarrassment.

“You too make me feel… things” he bluntly stated, making your heart beat faster.

You smiled at him and took his hand and he let you.

[furederiko]

"GOOD LUCK!!!" The 32nd episode of Kyuranger sends off one of its key member to its final journey...

NOTE: Several unrelated things before I moved on to the recap-view. I couldn't rewatched this episode again (with subtitle) sooner due to unexpected situations at home. Hence why this post takes a bit longer to publish. And one more thing, I'll be off the grid throughout next week to deal with personal affairs, so recap-view for episode 33 will also be delayed until after October 15th, 2017. I'll probably batch that one with episode 34 in the 3rd week of October.

- Okay, let's start. New broadcast time!!! 09.30 JST means I can now wake up later than usual (not that I could do that casually, due to my 'trained' biological clock... -_-). This new time slot however, means more 'noise' issues to the streaming. Both figuratively and literally, as in internet traffic problem that caused delays, and pesky annoyingly LOUD morning aerobic held by the neighbourhood community almost every Sunday. On the bright side, this reschedule means the absence of that usual time stamp/clock! Although it does feel odd (like something's missing or somehow LOL) and took me a while to get used to, this clean footage definitely looks so much better than before because of it. - The show itself celebrates its new schedule with a neat special intro-narration that occurs mid-fight. Opening sequence remains the same though, here I thought it would get revamped like "Kyoryuger". It also debuts a Holy Moly flashy fan-service grin-inducing "Kyulette Chance!" by the duo of Tsurugi who firmly believes he should be the new Commander, and Stinger who tags along for unknown reason. Gotta love Kotarou's reaction to these two, particularly the "You're making us Earthling looks bad" jab to the former... LOL. Not unlike the cool intro narration, I'm not sure if the pair will continue to do this in the next episode (since Xiao already shows up later in the closing scene). Nevertheless, this is a hillarious gem indeed. - Don Armage looks a bit desperate, that he's offering Vice-Shogun promotion for Malistrates who can take down the Kyurangers. This is where Kukuruga's subordinate Dogyun (whose design reminds me of Decepticon Shockwave) steps in. Apparently, the Jark Matter scientist has the ability to control machines, and wants to utilize this skill to activate the numerous Consumarz on Earth. Remember, those machines were all shutdown by Tsurugi when he was awaken from his cold-sleep. - On the protagonist side, Naga confirms that Don Armage is situated in the Crux System. Somewhere around there, at least (Naga with emotions means he can openly cast jokes now LOL). Unfortunately, the team is facing a problem: ORION's condition doesn't allow them to do that. Not only the spaceship is damaged, but it is also beyond repair. Aaaaw... T_T. - Raptor, who is troubled due to her deep connection with ORION, wants to use Dogyun's ability to help repair ORION. Unfortunately, the Malistrate's skill is nothing but a fraud. Tsurugi explains that the appliances only become active due to a liquid organism matrix that triggers their electric circuits. So Dogyun doesn't play a direct role on them. - Things get more troubling, as Tsurugi's premature leadership is already put into question. Raptor feels that ORION is one of their important comrade, while he thinks that's just her usual delusions. This provokes Raptor's emotions, who runs away thinking it's useless to fight. A good example to why an inconsiderate guy like Tsurugi shouldn't be assigned as the new Commander *sigh*. - Spada has always been linked to Raptor (classic Yellow-Pink trope if you will), so it comes off as natural that he would stand up and support her. Aside from confirming that they are the early Rebellion members (possibly after Xiao and Stinger, and before Hammy and Champ joined the group), Spada admits that ORION might've been the miraculous spaceship that Raptor suggests. I don't know about you, but this scene makes me curious to see more flashback to the Rebellion's foundation! - Knowing a brief history that leads towards Raptor's attachment to ORION, Lucky decides to look for her while the away team deals with Dogyun who has rigged another set of Consumarz to level the area. Raptor is about to give up, troubled by the fact that she won't be able to save a teammate. Lucky proves that he's a better candidate to be a Commander, by encouraging Raptor to stand up and do something better for ORION's sake: fight on, to save the universe! - It's really nice seeing Aquila Pink being so fierce and feisty in battle. Not only she (with Leo Red's help) saves the day by using Telescopium Kyu Globe to remove the slimes from the reactivated Consumarz, but her action and strong feeling totally reaches out to ORION. Dogyun combines 10 regular Consumarz into a 'Super Big' Consumarz that's set to collide with Earth, and Kyutamajin is unable to stop it. So who's coming to the rescue? It's none other than... ORION. - The spaceship sentiently lights up its last remaining power, transports Spada, Balance, and Kotarou (the three stayed behind inside the ship) into Kyutamajin for safety, and rams the Giant Consumarz away from its destination. Which also means, ORION is sacrificing himself to save the Kyurangers and Earth. And to top it all, in its very last seconds, the ship sends one last transmission to the team, and most likely to Raptor in person... "GOOD LUCK". Aaaaawww... the FEELS. Dang you Kyuranger, even your ship is giving me misty eyes. Fun fact: Just like what happened to Orion or various other elements of the series, this is another strong nod to "One Piece". In this case, ORION serves as the Going Merry 'situation' for the Kyurangers. - In the end, the other Kyurangers agrees with Raptor, acknowledging that the spaceship is indeed the unofficial 13th member of the team. They pay tribute to ORION as it joins the stars in the sky, while Xiao can be seen overseeing a behemoth of battleship that would inherit its heroic legacy (the official CM for one has already been aired! LOL). Farewell ORION, thanks for taking us through an amazing rollercoaster ride throughout 32 episodes. You shall not be forgotten!

Overall: Personally, I think this was a good episode. Wasn't at the heights of the previous ones, but an overall good one nonetheless. It put Raptor283 in the spotlight, progressed her personal character journey that have already begun since episode 4, but at the same time, affecting the whole team in a major way. Of course, not every audience would take this kindly, nor in a positive way. The barrage of long and pointless heated complaints for this episode on RangerBoard, firmly reminded me why I walked away from that forum (glad I never rejoined and served only as passive spectator until now... totally forgot my password anyway LOL). This wouldn't please those who kept on arguing about her lack of focus episode and exposure. Completely ignoring the fact that they have ironically been downplaying her crucial importance to the show (seriously, Kyuranger would be nothing without Raptor's presence, eventhough she largely operates in the background), under the disguise of 'her defense'. Some people just could never be satisfied with anything! If you ask me, the fact that this episode was able to slip in a moving moment as a climax, and made us relate to the struggle of an android (who is portrayed by suit + voice actor), is an amazing achievement on its own. Do I want to see more development and focus story for Raptor? Yes. Will we get any? Probably not, because the approach to treat female characters as secondary at best is a common thing in Super Sentai franchise. Then again, Kyuranger has surprised us plenty of times before, so let's hold our horses and don't jump the gun just yet... Next week: Eris! Orion! And the Kyurangers' search for a place called home... PS: Just restating what I've said above. I'll see you again with the next recap-view after October 15th! Till then, stay safe, take care, and see you soon...

Episode 32 Score: 8 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: October 1st, 2017 - Version 3.01. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[crayonlead2-blog]

The overlooked essentials of employee well-being

If you really want to increase employees’ health and well-being, focus on job control and social support.

Workplace stress is exacting an ever-higher physical and psychological toll. It adversely affects productivity, drives up voluntary turnover, and costs US employers nearly $200 billion every year in healthcare costs. Many companies are aware of these negative effects, and some have gotten busy devising ways to counteract them. Efforts range from initiatives to encourage sleep, exercise, and meditation to perks such as nap pods and snack bars.

In the midst of all this activity, it’s easy to overlook something fundamental: the work environment, starting with the work itself. For many years, a number of researchers, including myself, have touted the benefits of better work practices for performance and productivity. In my new book, Dying for a Paycheck (HarperCollins, 2018), I’ve tried to show how two critical contributors to employee engagement—job control and social support—also improve employee health, potentially reducing healthcare costs and strengthening the case for them as a top management priority.

In this article, I’ll explore the research that connects these two elements to employee health, and describe some examples of organizations that are succeeding at providing the autonomy, control, social connections, and support that foster physical and mental well-being. Any company, in any industry, can pull these levers without breaking the bank. Today, though, too few do.

Job control

Studies going back decades have shown that job control—the amount of discretion employees have to determine what they do and how they do it—has a major impact on their physical health. Recent research also indicates that limited job control has ill effects that extend beyond the physical, imposing a burden on employees’ mental health, too. Organizations can guard against these dangers by creating roles with more fluidity and autonomy, and by erecting barriers to micromanagement.

Physical and mental health

One of the most notable research efforts in this area was the Whitehall Studies, conducted by British epidemiologist Michael Marmot and his team, which examined employees within the British Civil Service. Marmot’s team discovered that the higher someone’s rank, the lower the incidence of and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Controlling for other factors, it turned out that differences in job control, which were correlated with job rank, most accounted for this phenomenon. Higher-ranked British employees, like higher-ranked employees in most organizations, enjoyed more control over their jobs and had more discretion over what they did, how they did it, and when—even though they often faced greater job demands.

Additional Whitehall data related work stress, measured as the co-occurrence of high job demands and low job control, to the presence of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that predict the likelihood of getting heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Employees who faced chronic stress at work were more than twice as likely to have metabolic syndrome compared with those without work stress.

Other research has also found a relationship between measures of job control and health. A study of 8,500 white-collar workers in Sweden who had gone through reorganizations found that the people who had a higher level of influence and task control in the reorganization process had lower levels of illness symptoms for 11 out of 12 health indicators, were absent less frequently, and experienced less depression. And that’s far from the only example of job control affecting mental- as well as physical-health outcomes. For example, a study of individuals at 72 diverse organizations in the northeastern United States reported statistically significant, negative relationships between job control and self-reported anxiety and depression.

Learning, motivation, and performance

During my research, peoples’ stories painted a vivid picture of how low job control is all too common in many offices today. I heard much about the ever-evolving performance-evaluation criteria that made it tough to know how to succeed; the business trips rearranged without explanation; and even about a workplace “scout” who had to discern the boss’s mood and alert the others.

The picture isn’t pretty, and it can be costly. A chaotic workplace environment of frequent, uncontrollable events adversely affects people’s motivation, their cognition and learning, and their emotional state. If, through their actions, people cannot predictably and significantly affect what happens to them, they are going to stop trying. Why expend effort when the results of that effort are uncontrollable, rendering the effort fruitless?

That’s why research shows that severing the connection between actions and their consequences—leaving people with little or no control over what happens to them at work—decreases motivation and effort. It significantly hampers learning on the job, too. People’s ability to learn by observing the connection between actions and their consequences normally permits them to attain some degree of mastery over their environment—an understanding of what they must do to achieve the desired results. In a condition of low job control, on the other hand, people have less responsibility and discretion, which undermines their feelings of competence and accomplishment and ultimately contributes to stress, anxiety, and depression.

The hidden value of organizational health—and how to capture it

Simple steps toward control and autonomy

When you’re a child, the people in your life—teachers, parents—tell you what to do. As you get older, you begin to make your own life choices. And then one day, you get a job. Depending on your boss, your employer, and the design of your work, your choices about what to do and how to do it, at least while at work, can disappear—leaving you more stressed, more vulnerable to ill health, and, sometimes, less than yourself. There are some straightforward actions companies can take to avoid creating such an environment.

Guard against micromanagement

Micromanaging is all too common at work, simply because many managers are poor at coaching and facilitating others to do their jobs better. When managers micromanage their subordinates, those individuals lose their autonomy and sense of control to the bosses who won’t delegate.

Work doesn’t have to be this way. The founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, thought of the company as a place where “everyone kind of knows the role that they need to do, and does that work independent of extreme management.” He leads using a principle he calls “management by absence.” The company reduces the risk of micromanagement by having a flat organizational structure, with more people than any manager could possibly micromanage even if he or she wanted to. Similarly, at Zillow, as a learning-and-development person there put it, “the manager’s role is to support the team and be there to help remove roadblocks, not to be the dictator.” The head of human resources at Landmark Health agreed, saying, “If somebody feels like the work that they’re doing is not valued, if they personally don’t feel like they have a voice at the table, if they feel like they’re dictated to or micromanaged, they’re going to feel less fulfilled and more tired.”

Incorporate more autonomy and fluidity into every role

People often believe that providing job control is possible only for some jobs, and for some people. But that is not the case—all people can be given more decision-making discretion in their jobs and latitude to control their work. San Francisco–based Collective Health designed the jobs of its “patient advocates”—who answer the phones to resolve customer issues that aren’t readily solved—with a simple goal in mind: create a more empowered, highly skilled call-center staff, drawing graduates from top universities. As Andrew Halpert, senior director of clinical and network solutions, explains, “The typical profile is someone who majored in human biology and maybe wants to pursue a medical career, but meanwhile wants a job and to work for an interesting start-up. Then you say, ‘How are you going to keep smart people engaged and happy and not burnt out and dissatisfied?’”

Collective Health trains its hires thoroughly on key technical tools, while regularly rotating their physical locations and assigned tasks: one week they may be coordinating benefit issues, and the next solving larger issues outside their department, giving them an overall picture of how everything works. They are continually empowered to solve problems on the floor as they discover them, connecting with other teams in the company. The system has not only increased employee retention by providing people with more interesting and impactful work, it has also proven more efficient at resolving problems. Halpert says the benefits outweigh the extra costs for the company and the customer: “On the ‘how much did I pay?’ criterion, it looks more expensive. . . . The Collective Health call costs more because it’s being handled by someone who is better qualified and better paid who is also spending more time resolving the issue. But we solve problems, unlike other systems where claims and problems just go on with a life of their own.”

The Collective Health experience shows how roles can be designed both to improve people’s health and increase effectiveness for the benefit of employers—in fact, the two can be mutually reinforcing. Jobs that provide individuals more autonomy and control serve to increase their motivation, job satisfaction, and performance—while at the same time making employees healthier and helping them to live longer.

Social support

If job control is one important aspect of a healthy workplace, social support is another. Research going back to the 1970s consistently demonstrates a connection between social support and health. Having friends protects “your health as much as quitting smoking and a great deal more than exercising,” even though survey evidence suggests that the “number of Americans who say they have no close friends has roughly tripled in recent decades.”

The evidence shows that social support—family and friends you can count on, as well as close relationships—can have a direct effect on health and buffers the effects of various psychosocial stresses, including workplace stress, that can compromise health. For instance, one review noted that “people who were less socially integrated” and “people with low levels of social support” had higher mortality rates.

Unfortunately, workplaces sometimes have characteristics that make it harder to build relationships and provide support. Consider, for example, practices that foster internal competition such as forced curve ranking, which reduces collaboration and teamwork. In fact, anything that pits people against one another weakens social ties among employees and reduces the social support that produces healthier workplaces. Equally destructive are transactional workplace approaches in which people are seen as factors of production and where the emphasis is on trading money for work, without much emotional connection between people and their place of work.

Rooting out practices like these is a good starting point for leaders seeking to build environments with stronger social support. Also invaluable are actions such as the ones described below. These sound straightforward and are already practiced by a number of companies, but nonetheless are easy to overlook.

Demonstrate commitment to offering help

SAS Institute, often found near the top of “best places to work” lists, is a company whose business strategy is premised on long-term relationships with its customers—and its employees. The company signals in ways large and small that it cares about its employees’ well-being. For instance, when a SAS employee died in a boating accident one weekend, a question arose: What would happen to his children, currently enrolled in company-subsidized day care? How long would they be permitted to stay? The answer: as long as they wanted to and were age-eligible, regardless of the fact that they no longer had a parent employed by the company. And perhaps nothing signifies SAS’s commitment to its employees’ well-being more than its investment in a chief health officer whose job entails not just running the on-site health facility but ensuring that SAS employees can access the medical care they need to remain healthy and to be fully cared for if they get sick.

Encourage people to care for one another

The large healthcare and dialysis company DaVita created the DaVita Village Network to give employees the opportunity, through optional payroll contributions, to help each other during times of crisis—such as a natural disaster, an accident, or an illness. The company provides funding to match employee contributions of up to $250,000 per year. When southwest Florida was hit by a series of hurricanes in 2004, a dialysis administrator noted, “The DaVita Village Network provided our housing while our homes were uninhabitable, and provided funding for food until we were able to get back on our feet.”

Fix the language

People are more likely to like and help others with whom they share some sort of unit relationship, to whom they feel similar, and with whom they feel connected. Language in the workplace that emphasizes divisions between leadership and employees can further alienate people and erode any sense of shared community or identity. Ensure that people are less separated by title, and use language that is consistent with the idea of community. DaVita sometimes refers to itself as a “village.” The company’s CEO often calls himself the “mayor.” Employees are constantly referred to as “teammates” and certainly never as “workers,” a term that denotes both a somewhat lower status and also people who are distinct from the “managers” and “leaders.”

Support shared connections

Almost anything that brings people into contact in a pleasant and meaningful context—from holidays to community service to events that celebrate employee tenure or shared successes such as product launches—helps build a sense of common identity and strengthens social bonds. Southwest Airlines is famous for its Halloween parties. Other organizations offer their employees volunteer opportunities to help local nonprofits. A 2013 UnitedHealth survey found that 81 percent of employees who volunteered through their workplace “agreed that volunteering together strengthens relationships among colleagues.”

Giving people more control over their work life and providing them with social support fosters higher levels of physical and mental health. A culture of social support also reinforces for employees that they are valued, and thus helps in a company’s efforts to attract and retain people. Job control, meanwhile, has a positive impact on individual performance and is one of the most important predictors of job satisfaction and work motivation, frequently ranking as more important even than pay. Management practices that strengthen job control and social support are often overlooked but relatively straightforward—and they provide a payoff to employees and employers alike.

About the author(s)

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the author of 15 books. This article is adapted from his most recent book, Dying for a Paycheck: How Modern Management Harms Employee Health and Company Performance—and What We Can Do About It (HarperCollins, 2018).

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Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-overlooked-essentials-of-employee-well-being

[prosecutormiles]

Edgeworth & Mental Illness

In honor of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, I thought I would talk a little bit (spoiler alert: there is nothing “a little bit” about this post) about the different mental illnesses that I write Miles with.  Keep in mind that I'm not a medical professional by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm going on my own research and experience for a lot of this.  This is, of course, my own personal interpretation.

This is not a comprehensive list, and it's bound to shift and change as I develop my writing.  Please be aware that this isn't fun stuff.  I'll put a full trigger list under the cut.

#child abuse #trauma #suicide attempt #suicidal ideation #self harm #addiction #drug use

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event.  According to the ADAA, the disorder is characterized by three main types of symptoms:

Re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive distressing recollections of the event, flashbacks, and nightmares.

Emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people, and activities that are reminders of the trauma.

Increased arousal such as difficulty sleeping and concentrating, feeling jumpy, and being easily irritated and angered.

Miles canonically experiences symptoms of PTSD.  He has flashbacks triggered by earthquakes, he has recurring nightmares, and he avoids elevators.  Within blog canon, he also suffers from insomnia, panic attacks, and hypervigilance, particularly under times of high stress.  He is also claustrophobic and experiences anxiety from things that restrict his breathing, such as tight ties/shirt collars and swimming underwater.

It should be noted that Miles' PTSD stems not only from witnessing his father's murder, but also the abuse he suffered under von Karma.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

GAD is a mental disorder characterized by persistent and excessive worry about a number of different things, coupled with the inability to control that worry.

This is something Miles had since childhood, but he had a decent support system when he was young.  It was exacerbated greatly by his father's death, and further from training under von Karma.  A lot of this overlaps with his PTSD, but I do hold that it is alongside rather than a part of it.

A lot of his anxiety is stemmed from his triggers, but he has developed a good deal of smaller worries concerning (mostly) unrelated things: ladders, large bodies of water (such as oceans, not lakes), thunderstorms, etc. He also has a crippling fear of failure and losing control.

Major Depressive Disorder

MDD is a mental condition in which a person suffers at least one major depressive episode in their lifetime.  The qualifications for one of these episodes involve a certain set of symptoms being persistent for at least two weeks and generally will interfere with one's ability to perform their normal everyday activities.

Miles experienced a major depressive episode following the State vs. Skye case (Rise From the Ashes), although he had been spiraling since before the State vs. Edgeworth case (Turnabout Goodbyes).  Before that point, he likely would have been diagnosed with Persistent Depressive Disorder (PPD), which is a less severe version of MDD but generally lasts longer than a single episode.  Miles has had major depressive episodes before the one that ultimately saw him leaving his job and disappearing for a year, but they were less severe.

The symptoms he experiences include feelings of extreme guilt and hopelessness, loss of pleasure of things he normally enjoys, decreased appetite, insomnia, fatigue, lack of concentration, and suicidal ideation.

He was likely predisposed to MDD, but it manifested because of his trauma and abuse history.  He might have it without those things, but the severity would likely be a bit lower.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

I'm a bit hesitant with this one because personality disorders are a whole different category, and diagnosing them is really complex. Personality disorders are called such because they are rooted within someone's personality, sometimes due to years of maladaptive patterns of behavior.  It often has to do with using juvenile coping methods and never really learning to use better ones.  Miles does fit a lot of the patterns, but I'm not sure it's the perfect diagnosis for him because it's difficult to tell if it's a part of his personality or some sort of chemical imbalance (believed to be the cause of many mental illnesses that are not personality disorders).

OCPD, which is also called Anankastic Personality Disorder, is a kind of personality disorder that is characterized by perfectionism, need for control, and cognitive rigidity.  It is similar in some ways to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but it is considered a separate diagnosis.

Miles' symptoms include preoccupation with orderliness and organization, obsession with rules, perfectionism to the point where it interferes with productivity (i.e. he may not sleep the night before a trial because he feels the need to prepare for every single possibility that may come up in court, rather than not getting his work done on time), rigidity and stubbornness, and inflexibility about moral issues (i.e. everything is either good or bad, black or white; there are no gray areas).

While the exact cause of OCPD is unknown, it's likely that this was influenced greatly by von Karma.

With this cocktail of mental illnesses comes certain behavioral patterns and coping mechanisms.  Due to the fact that Miles is a functional member of society with a high stress job that he is very, very good at, it's clear that his coping mechanisms are working for him, at least for the short term. However, he has a distinct lack of a social life and not very many friends, along with the fact that his abuser is still a part of his life after he moves out.  Without treatment and removing the severely negative factors in his life, it's likely a major depressive episode was inevitable.

Miles' coping methods were effective in the short term, but they were not positive coping methods.  Here is a non-comprehensive list of his coping methods:

Distraction. He will bury himself in work to avoid dealing with his emotions. (Note: this is not necessarily a negative coping method, but being as he never actually deals with things, it's not a positive one either.)

Self-medication. He abuses prescription benzodiazepines (like Xanax or Ativan).  However, there is a stipulation to this:  he has a legitimate prescription, and, while he almost always takes at least one a day, he will not resort to breaking the law to get extra.  The last few days before he is allowed to refill his prescription are days you want to stay very far away from him.

Self harm.  Although less prevalent in adulthood, he was a cutter the entire time he was living under von Karma's roof.  His cuts are very well hidden, mostly on his thighs.

Avoidance. He actively avoids situations that will spike his anxiety, to the point where he climbs twelve flights of stairs every single day so that he doesn't have to take the elevator.  (Also not necessarily a negative coping mechanism, except for the great lengths he'll go to to avoid certain things.)

Aggression. While much of the time, his reprimands to subordinates are due to a lack of competency on their parts, he also sometimes derives pleasure from putting other people down.  This is especially true in the courtroom, where he can generally outwit a defense attorney.

So, what can he do about it?

This blog's canon is that Miles started receiving psychiatric treatment after leaving his suicide note and fleeing the country.  I'm not sure if this happened because of an actual suicide attempt or for some other reason.  With official diagnoses and proper therapy and medication, he was able to rebuild himself into the man we see in the later games.

He also got Pess while he was in Europe, who is a certified service dog trained to help him deal with his PTSD symptoms in particular.  She is more than an emotional support dog, although she performs those tasks for him as well.  What makes her a service dog is that she is trained to get him to safety in earthquakes, protect him in the event of a full flashback, wake him up from nightmares, etc.

She is the absolute light of his life, and he adores her.  He takes her just about everywhere, although he doesn't always need her services. The main place she does not go with him is the courthouse.  But she has a doggy bed in his office and strolls around the twelfth floor most of the day.

Just because Miles is in treatment and on medications doesn't mean he is magically better, though.  Many of the things he deals with now, he will be dealing with the rest of his life.  The difference is that he is getting the resources he needs to deal with these things in a healthier manner.  There will still be bad days and weeks and months, and there are still things he hasn't addressed. For instance, his addiction to benzos is still something he won't admit to needing to deal with and is very good at hiding it from his acquaintances. He still hasn't completely processed the idea that his life was so incredibly influenced by a man who was setting him up for failure from the beginning.  He still has trouble admitting that what happened to him was abuse.

It's a long process, but he is finally on the right path.

[dragonandtiger]

Digimon 00 - Fragments - 20

“It’s been quite some time since we’ve had a gathering of this magnitude.”

The elderly-sounding voice echoed through the massive stairwell, with its golden staircase spiraling downwards deep underground. Leading the way was an equally elderly looking man, the same man that had appeared on the computer screen before Ken and Wormmon. He bore a fuzzy gray mustache and matching top-knot ponytail, otherwise completely bald, and wore a thick dark purple coat with red trim and shoulder pads complete with matching gloves and boots.

The human-looking Digimon led the way down the stairwell, with Jijimon and Babamon following after him. After them came the three human children - Keiko, Ryo, and Ken - and their Digimon entourage of Wormmon, Nyamon, and Leomon. Bringing up the back, showing decidedly less wonder and awe than the children and partners, were FlaWizarmon and Witchmon.

“You got that right,” Jijimon said with a sniff. “Those stuffed shirts don’t usually drop by the Temple of Miracles, unless they gotta vote on somethin’.”

“Stuffed shirts?” Ryo repeated, perplexed. “But aren’t Narakumon and Tenraimon in charge? Why is there a vote for anything?”

Babamon lightly rapped her broom on the floor. “The gods have enough to keep them busy supporting all of existence without having to micromanage every last detail about our world and yours. That’s why they have subordinates and a hierarchy of important Digimon to handle specific aspects.”

“I reckon you could say they’re the bureaucrat to your emperor or president or king, or however that works in yer world,” FlaWizarmon said as he laced his fingers behind his head.

Ryo blinked slowly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess that’s true.”

“An’ like true bureaucrats, they can’t even agree on how to wipe their own asses, let alone how to take care of the Digital World,” Jijimon said. “So if there’s somethin’ that affects more than just their appointed area, the Holy Beasts hold a vote - majority rules.”

“Keeps it nice and fair, y’see,” FlaWizarmon said, with a wink.

“But what are they voting on?” Ken asked as he turned to look at FlaWizarmon.

“What else?” FlaWizarmon said with an easygoing smile and a shrug. “What to do about Chimeramon.”

“As I explained before,” Gennai said, with a shake of his head. “Chimeramon has returned in full force, going far beyond just a petty small-time thug in his single fortress with a few scattered minions. His might now threatens the entire Digital World.”

“But… how did it happen so fast?” Ken asked, somewhat mystified. “We just defeated him several hours ago!”

“It may have seemed like several hours to you, but months have passed in the Digital World,” Keiko said, her expression grim. “More than enough time for him to rebuild his forces.”

Ryo grimaced. “Oh, that’s right. The time difference. One minute in our world is one day here. We were gone, what, about five hours? So that means at least 300 days… or close to a year.”

“He is a very determined foe, I will give him that,” Leomon said, with a grunt. “To recover so quickly and rebuild his army after detonating himself…”

“That wasn’t really him,” Nyamon said, her ears canted back. “It was a decoy. He never went to the Dark World.”

Leomon jerked and turned to stare at the smaller feline Digimon. “What?”

“Narakumon had been specifically waiting for him in the Dark World,” Nyamon said. “He never arrived.”

“He musta been usin’ somethin’ or someone like a puppet,” FlaWizarmon said, with a grunt. “So of course he didn’t care about blowin’ it up.”

Leomon stared at Nyamon in silence before anger twisted his face. “So that coward was never in harm’s way.”

“Yet,” Keiko growled.

Ryo and Ken both stared at Keiko before they turned to look at each other, wordlessly.

Leomon let out a low growl himself. “It must have been like when I was controlled by Devimon… but how?”

Ken gave a start at that and turned to Leomon. “Devimon?!”

“Wait, what!?” Ryo echoed his own shock, nearly stumbling on the stairs.

“It has to be related,” Nyamon said. “It was fairly coincidental that Devimon showed up when he did. He must have a connection to ‘Chimeramon’, who granted him the power to possess you.”

“That bastard,” Leomon grunted.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Ken yelped as he turned to face Leomon, coming to an abrupt stop. “What does that mean!?”

“Back up a second!” Ryo said as he joined Ken, hurrying in front of the tall lion to stop his descent. “What’s this about you and Devimon?!”

Leomon paused before his expression grew grave, and rather shame-faced. “A lot has happened while you were gone.”

“Which the time distortion acting up again didn’t help,” Nyamon said as she flicked her ear.

Ken glanced between Nyamon and Leomon, helplessly. “S-so Devimon… came back?”

“It’s the nature of the beast, Ken-chan,” FlaWizarmon said, with a shrug. “Don’t worry about it none. He’s already been dealt with, an’ sent right back to where he came from. It’ll be a little while more before he can start sniffin’ around again.”

Ken felt a chill at that, which prompted him to hug Wormmon tightly to his chest. “So you… were you the one to beat him?”

“No,” Leomon said, gravely. “He put me under some form of mind control… and had me attack the Chosen Children that had just arrived in our world. They are the ones who defeated him.”

Ryo perked up at that. “More Chosen Children?!”

“Yup!” FlaWizarmon said as he flashed Ryo a grin. “Quite a shock, huh? Turns out that seven of the kidnapped eggs had wound up on File Island of all places, and called their Chosen to ‘em! Who’d a thought?”

Ryo felt a rush of hope at that and he tentatively glanced towards FlaWizarmon and Witchmon. However, as quickly as the hope had been born, logic came in to dash it. “...And my partner wasn’t…?” While he didn’t want to dismiss it entirely, he knew that if his partner had been among the seven, they would have brought him. And with the only new Digimon among the group being the elderly Gennai, Ryo knew his hope was dead before he had even voiced the thought.

FlaWizarmon paused before he grimaced and pulled the brim of his hat down. “‘m sorry.”

“I-it’s fine,” Ryo said, with a weak smile. “I mean, the fact that they were able to find their partners means it’s only a matter of time before I find mine, right? I just… have to be patient.”

Witchmon smiled sadly at the Chosen of Miracles. “That’s right, dearie. And we’ll help you every step of the way.”

The rest of the trip downward was somber, the mood thoroughly diminished. The group continued in silence until they finally reached the bottom floor, the stairwell immediately opened in to a massive hallway that completely dwarfed anything the children had seen up until that point. While one end stretched outward before cutting off abruptly in to a gaping hole overlooking the steep mountain tops and valleys beyond, the other end of the hallway connected to an equally massive set of golden doors, with the crest of Miracles front and center, with Light to the right of it and Darkness to the left.

“I-it’s so huge,” Ken whispered as he gaped upwards at the door.

“‘Course it is,” FlaWizarmon said, with a grin. “There ain’t no way he woulda been able to fit through it, otherwise!”

“He? He who?” Ryo asked.

“Lord Huanglongmon,” Jijimon said, his voice solemn.

Babamon agreed as she lowered her head. “You stand before the throne room of Lord Huanglongmon himself… dearly departed.”

“Lord Huanglongmon?” Ryo repeated, somewhat tentative.

“One of the three DigiGods that govern - or used ta govern - our world,” FlaWizarmon said, with a flick of his hand. “Narakumon, Tenraimon, an’ Huanglongmon. Case ya didn’t get the implication, Huanglongmon ain’t around no more - an’ he ain’t comin’ back.”

“His duties have been split between Narakumon, Tenraimon, and the Holy Beasts,” Witchmon said with a nod.

“But he’s a Digimon, isn’t he?” Ken asked, with wide eyes. “Can’t he just be reborn?”

“Unlike most Digimon, who are either vaccines, viruses, or data types, the DigiGods are programs,” Gennai said as he glanced back at the human children. “They weren’t designed to die.”

“Programs?” Ryo repeated, slowly.

“To put it in terms you humans are probably more familiar with, imagine the Digital World as a computer system,” Gennai said as he turned to face the children, gesturing a circular motion with with his hands. “Narakumon is the delete key and recycle bin, as he allows you to purge or uninstall files off the system. Tenraimon would be the installation process and restore function, as she has the ability to create new files, retrieve previously deleted files, and install new programs. Huanglongmon… was the computer itself.”

“The computer… itself?” Ken repeated.

Ryo’s eyebrows shot straight up. “You mean the operating system!?”

Gennai nodded. “Yes. While other smaller programs such as myself can die with only minor consequences, the three Digi-Gods are vital for our world to continue functioning properly.”

“So… what happened when Huanglongmon…?” Ryo asked tentatively, trailing off as he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Thanks to having a computer programmer for a father, he was able to follow the conversation far better than most children his age. Unfortunately, what his experience told him made him very anxious about what the answer to his question would be.

“Bad crap, kid,” Jijimon said. “Very bad crap.” The elder Digimon then tapped his staff against the ground. “But that ain’t neither here nor there nor anywhere! Narakumon and Tenraimon did what they hadda to, an’ are gonna keep doin’ what they gotta do to make sure our world keeps goin’ strong. So why don’t you all stop worryin’ about the past and instead focus on the present, like kicking Chimeramon’s ass for real this time?”

“I agree,” Gennai said, cheerfully. The elderly Digimon clapped his hands together before throwing them forward, palms outstretched, towards the massive door.

The doors gave a thunderous rumble before they began to open seemingly by themselves, slowly creeping open. As the doors moved, they gradually gave the human children a view of the gaudiest, most decadent throne room any of them had ever seen. Gold trimmed every inch of the white room, glistening blindingly in the light. Draconian statues made of the precious metal, covered in jewels, lined the walls as they lead the eye to an enormous golden throne that took up most of the room, a monument of authority and excess.

The throne was pointedly empty, it’s purple and golden studded upholstery completely unused. Four large Digimon stood beside the throne, watching the human children and their entourage as they entered the throne room like ants walking through a canyon.

The Digimon in question were unfamiliar to Ryo and Ken, though that was to be expected. One was a serpentine blue dragon that seemed to be made out of clouds held together by chains, who looked at the chosen children with genuine curiosity. The second was a white tiger with a piercing stare and armaments befitting a general, his expression completely neutral without even a hint of his innermost thoughts. The third was a tan dual-headed turtle with dark brown face markings and shell, a tree growing straight out of his back. While he appeared somewhat jovial, the turtle could not hide his anxious fidgets, turning his attention from the humans, to the children, and back as he shifted weight between his feet like an uneasy child. The final Digimon was a multi-winged bird colored like blazing flames, red with yellow trim. His coloring matched the fierceness in his eyes as he looked at each of the Chosen in turn before focusing the majority of his intensity on the unflinching Keiko.

“Welcome, Chosen Children. It is good of you to come,” the serpentine Digimon said. “I am Qinglongmon, Holy Beast of the East.”

“I am Baihumon, Holy Beast of the West,” the tiger Digimon said. “I see you wasted no time in answering our summons. I approve.”

“Hello, hello, good to see you!” the turtle Digimon said, with surprising cheer. “I am Xuanwumon, Holy Beast of the North! I see you’ve even brought Lady Keiko! How nice!”

“I noticed as well,” the bird said, narrowing his four eyes at once. “I do not recall inviting you in to our lord’s sacred throne room.”

Keiko picked some dirt out from underneath her fingernails rather than bother meeting the murder in Zhuqiaomon’s gaze.

“Now, now, Zhuqiaomon,” Qinglongmon said, chidingly. “There is no reason to exclude Lady Keiko, or her entourage. They are, after all, servants of Lord Narakumon.”

“Which should be reason enough,” Zhuqiaomon said, his two left eyes glancing to the serpent while the others remained focused on Keiko.

Keiko glanced over at Ken and cupped her hand around his ear, as though she was going to whisper to him even though her voice didn’t lower in the slightest. “Darkness overpowers Miracles, so Zhuqiaomon is terrified of upsetting Narakumon.”

Zhuqiaomon’s eyes glowed as his feathers rustled with flames. “Don’t you mock me by pretending your power rivals mine in the slightest!”

“Enough,” Baihumon said with a snort. “Rejecting valuable allies out of pettiness leads only to failure - and death. If you wish to engage in such foolishness, you are welcome to it, but do it in your own lands - and on your own time.”

“...As you say,” Zhuqiaomon said, looking away.

“Um,” Ken murmured softly, his eyes wide. “What was that about?”

“Politics,” FlaWizarmon said, in a whisper that didn’t try too hard to be one. “Like I said, bureaucrats.”

“Also,” Keiko whispered, “he’s still sore from when I punched him in the beak.”

Ryo gawked at Keiko after taking a quick glance at the Holy Beasts, who all were as big as buildings. “You what?”

Keiko shrugged, her expression innocent. “He hates humans, and I don’t take kindly to being threatened.”

“And he didn’t take kindly to being reminded that Keiko can and will stand up to him,” Nyamon said, with a sly smirk. “Sore beak, sore loser.”

Witchmon gave a sharp-toothed smile towards the Chosen of Darkness. “Of course Lady Keiko knows better than to provoke him when there’s work to be done. Isn’t that right, dearie?”

“I haven’t said a word to Zhuqiaomon yet,” Keiko said sweetly as she pressed her fingertips together.

“Not - a - word,” Nyamon agreed, just as sweetly.

“True ‘nuff!” FlaWizarmon said, with a chuckle.

“We have called you here with regards to Chimeramon,” Qinglongmon said as he turned to face the Chosen Children. “And we ask for your help in defeating him, as you have done so in the past.”

“As temporary as it was,” Zhuqiaomon said, with a hint of snideness in his voice.

“All Digimon deaths are temporary,” Baihumon said, blandly. “In this case, he simply didn’t learn the error of his ways and now seeks to challenge us… and appears capable of gaining equal footing, if left alone to his own devices.”

“Which is pretty alarming, in and of itself!” Xuanwumon said as he shook both of his heads. “The fact that he can grow so strong, so quickly… he’s a rather talented little Digimon!”

“Talented or not, he must be dealt with,” Baihumon said. “And you seem to be in the best position to do so.”

“I agree,” Keiko said as she raised her hand, clenching it into a fist

“He may think he’s impressin’ everyone with his lil’ dog and pony show,” FlaWizarmon said as he pulled down the brim of his hat. “But all he’s doin’ is advertisin’ his serious need of an ass whoopin’.”

Ryo looked from the giant Digimon before him to his friends, especially little Ken. He barely managed to stifle his grimace until he turned away. “I know we fought Chimeramon before, but how’re we supposed to defeat him for real if we can’t even find out who he really is?”

“What do you mean?” Qinglongmon asked, curiously.

“Chimeramon was a puppet,” Keiko said as she cocked her head slightly. “What was in that castle wasn’t a real Digimon, but something similar being controlled by the real Chimeramon, if that’s even what he really is called.”

Qinglongmon’s brow shot up before he turned to look at Baihumon, whose own brow creased in thought. “Is that so…”

“Powers such as that…,” Baihumon said, slowly. “Until this moment, I would have considered it impossible - unthinkable.”

“Too bad it isn’t,” Keiko said as she held her hands out in an incomplete shrug.

“Well!” Xuanwumon said. “That’s certainly… interesting news!”

Zhuqiaomon narrowed his eyes as he stared at Keiko, then turned his attention to the rest of the Holy Beasts. “It could be a lie.”

“Lies that can easily be disproven are pointless,” Baihumon said with a flick of his ear. He then turned his attention down to Keiko and the other humans. “If what you say is true, Chosen Children, then we will be able to assist you,” The tiger turned to Gennai. “Gennai.”

“I will look in to it right away,” Gennai said, with a nod. “And see if I can come up with a way that’ll allow us to sever his connection - or, better yet, use it to track him and discover his current location and identity.”

“In the meantime, please continue as you normally would,” Qinglongmon said. “Containing his expanding empire will be the first priority while we wait for Gennai to find a way to neutralize this strange ability of his.”

Ryo rubbed the back of his neck as he rubbed the back of his leg with the top of his foot, wondering why they were there for this meeting at all. “I guess we’ll… keep beating up Chimeramon’s goons?”

“Sounds good to me,” Nyamon said as she crossed her arms.

“Yep, business as usual!” FlaWizarmon said with great cheer. He then glanced towards Keiko, his expression thoughtful. “An’ if that’s the case, we may wanna add a bit more to Ken-chan’s arsenal… besides Mister Sparky, I mean.”

“Huh?” Ken looked up at that, blinking. “Do you mean more training?”

“Nooot quite, dearie,” Witchmon said, clapping her hands together.

Keiko inclined her head towards FlaWizarmon and Witchmon, an excited gleam sparking like flame in her eyes. “Are we going to get Ken and Ryo’s Digimentals?”

“Yep~!” FlaWizarmon said, cheerfully. “If this is gonna be a longer fight than before, it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra boost, dontcha know~! We can pick up Miracles on our way out, then hit ol’ Xuanwumon’s temple to get Kindness~!”

Xuanwumon paused at that, his eyes widening. “Ah, well… I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

Keiko snapped her head around, her blazing red eyes fixed on Xuanwumon as her mouth pursed in a displeased curve. “We think it’s necessary to get one of our Digimentals, and we are the ones who’ll be fighting Chimeramon.”

Xuanwumon paused at that before he began to perspire. His eyes began to shift about the room, focusing on the other Holy Beasts rather than on Keiko. “Er, well, I mean… it’s a rather long trip to my temple, and I’m really not set up for visitors… quite a mess, you see… leaves everywhere...”

Keiko took a menacing step towards Xuanwumon, back rigid and fists clenched, unflinching at the fact that the Holy Beast was easily ten times her size. “You think some leaves would stop us from getting something that belongs to Ken?”

“I-it’s alright,” Ken said, his voice soft. “I… I don’t want to be a bother-”

“No, hon, it’s not alright,” Witchmon said, with a smile.

“It’s your Digimental, an’ you have a right to it.” FlaWizarmon agreed.

“Well, it’s just…,” Xuanwumon trailed off for a moment. “He’s a Chosen aligned with Light, and they’re naturally weak anyway, so it’s not like it’ll do him much good-”

The word ‘weak’ had a dual reaction - at the same time it made Ken wince as if physically struck, it twisted Keiko’s expression from displeased and suspicious to fury. In a streak of black she closed the distance between her and Xuanwumon, launching a fist upward to the underside of one of his turtle heads. Although it was too high for her to reach, her aura of pure Darkness went further than the limitations of her body and silenced the Holy Beast as it struck the underside of his jaw.

To the stunned amazement of onlookers, Xuanwumon was sent flying into the air end over end until he hit the ridiculously high ceiling of the temple and came crashing back onto the floor upside-down with the sound of crunching branches and leaves.

Ken wordlessly gaped at the uprooted Holy Beast, shock quickly replacing the pain on his face. It was an expression mirrored on not only Ryo’s face but Leomon’s as well.

“S-she just…” Leomon murmured.

“W-wow…” Wormmon said, softly.

“He asked for it,” Jijimon said with a sniff. “Don’t talk trash, don’t get trashed. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

Baihumon blandly watched Xuanwumon struggle to right himself, feet flailing in the air while suspended by his own tree. “Light is not weak - it simply must work harder to reach its full potential. They are just as capable of incredible strength as Darkness or Miracles. The fact that they must work order to achieve what comes more easily to the others is not a failing in and of itself.”

Qinglongmon stared with wide eyes at his fellow Holy Beast’s plight for a moment, until Xuanwumon flopped over onto his side to regain enough purchase to wobbily squat on the ground, before the dragon Digimon addressed Keiko as she walked back to her friends. “Chosen Child, was that truly necessary?”

Keiko glanced back over her shoulder at the massive dragon, her lip still curled in a displeased frown. “No one insults Ken-chan.”

Zhuqiaomon looked about ready to explode, rage blazing in his eyes. However, despite the intense emotion causing his entire body to quake, he managed to keep his voice even. “Well. If you’re done, leave. We have our own business to attend to, and so do you.”

Keiko didn’t so much as glance in Zhuqiaomon’s direction, instead focused solely on Ken as she approached him, placing the hand she just used to punch such a massive Digimon gently on her friend’s shoulder. “Ready to get your Digimental, Ken-chan?” she asked brightly with a sweet smile.

“I…” Ken hesitated before he gave a small, tentative nod. “O-okay.”

“Don’t worry, Ken-chan,” FlaWizarmon said. “It’s all good~!”

Witchmon winked with a friendly razor-tipped smile. “Digimentals are pretty fun when you’ve got a bunch of them.”

“Well, then,” Gennai said as he turned to the Chosen Children. “Shall we go? We have our work cut out for us.”

Keiko nodded at that before she turned her backs to the Holy Beasts, with the others following suit as they made their way towards the massive doorway that awaited them.

Baihumon watched as the Chosen Children and their entourage left, his expression as unreadable as always. It wasn’t until the mighty doors closed that he finally lowered his gaze, letting out a low rumble. “A puppet, you say…”

“As I said, it could be a lie,” Zhuqiaomon said, narrowing his eyes. “One spun by her wretched master, to try and make himself seem necessary.”

“He is necessary,” Qinglongmon said, with a shake of his head. “He’d have no reason to lie about this.”

“Unless he’s the reason for this threat in the first place!” Zhuqiaomon said, with a growl. “And he’s trying to clean up his mess! You can’t deny that’s a possibility! Especially when the powers this ‘Chimeramon’ sound like that of a god!”

“Yes, they do,” Baihumon agreed, slowly. “And it is entirely possible that Narakumon is at fault for our current situation.”

“You see!?” Zhuqiaomon practically crowed. “We should stop engaging in such foolishness and focus more on neutralizing his influence in this world, starting with-”

“But not directly,” Baihumon interrupted, his ears canting back. “He might not be at fault for our current issues - merely the architect of them.”

“What?” Xuanwumon asked, blinking both heads. “What do you mean?”

“Those powers… while clearly divine, they do not fit the sort that either Narakumon or Tenraimon are capable of,” Baihumon growled.

“But if not them, then who-” Xuanwumon began before he stopped as all his eyes widened in realization. “-Oh. Oh. Oh my.”

All of the Holy Beasts were at attention now, as a single Digimon held their attention down to their very data. None of them could forget their true master.

“...What did that bastard do.” Zhuqiaomon said, with a low growl.

“There’s no proof that he has done anything,” Qinglongmon said. “Only theories.”

“Then what if this is their doing?” Zhuqiaomon spat, his wings slashing at the air around him, leaving behind streaks of fire. “Those selfish, cruel humans coveting the power of gods for their own, blindly meddling in things they don’t understand and damning our world and even theirs! If it wasn’t for them, our world wouldn’t be tainted by their presence!”

“If only those damn humans never came here,” Xuanwumon muttered, the very land vibrating around him with his words. “Then we would have no Dark Ocean, no Chosen Children, and our lord… then Lord Huanglongmon…”

The name alone awakened a pain carved so deep that not even centuries could heal, silencing even the most vocal of the Holy Beast for a moment that stretched on far too long.

“We don’t know,” Baihumon finally said, breaking the dark silence with a solemn voice. “And I doubt that he would admit to anything, if asked.”

“Which is why we should focus more on handling the situation at hand,” Qinglongmon said. “Once that’s been taken care of, then… we can focus on other issues.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.” Zhuqiaomon said, his voice low and menacing.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

#9, The Secret

Short opinion: This is one of those books where the only thing more terrifying than the alien invasion is the planet the aliens are trying to invade.  

Long opinion:

Although it’s not my favorite of the series, this book has a lot of really cool moments, both light (Marco referencing the Ramones, Cassie’s dad making her pick up the skunk, GRAPE JUICE) and dark (Cassie’s panic after killing the termite queen, everyone’s near-death in the logging camp battle).  This plot also nicely resolves the question of why the yeerks aren’t doing more to find the “andalites” allegedly living in the area through showing that, although humans might destroy forests and shoot skunks, humans also do a lot to protect their own planet.  

Another thing I love about this book: Marco and Jake’s interaction.  It only gets mentioned a few times in this book (and comes up again a couple times later in the series), but one of my favorite Little Things from the series is Marco and Jake’s ongoing Batman vs. Spider-Man debate.  I am really fascinated that Jake argues in favor of Batman and Marco is so in favor of Spider-Man, given that Jake is a tactician who fights primarily through quick hit-and-run attacks (like Spider-Man) whereas Marco is a strategist who fights by thinking ahead of his opponents and coming up with creative ways to have them solve his problems for him (like Batman).  Maybe it’s a matter of mutual respect for one another’s abilities, or a tendency to discount their own abilities.  After all, Marco tends to describe his strategic perspective as “simple” and “clear,” whereas Jake continuously underestimates his impact on the team no matter what it is.  

Then again, maybe Jake is such a fan of Batman because Bruce Wayne is (like him) a pensive, privileged justice-fighter focused on working hard to teach himself the skills he needs to be effective at his job.  And maybe Marco sees himself in Spider-Man, since Peter Parker’s a goofy kid who gets thrown into a situation way over his head and spends the next several years flailing around trying to rise to the occasion.  Or maybe they just played too many arcade games.  Maybe they just need to watch this.  

The other scene from this book that I really love is the one where Jake finds Cassie after she falls asleep in skunk morph protecting the baby skunks and he yells at her for being careless.  She tells him she wants out of the war and that humans suck so much they might as well get taken over by yeerks; Jake calmly shuts her down when offers to go explain to Tom that he deserves to be enslaved by the yeerks according to Cassie’s philosophy.  Cassie tells Jake that she’s saving the baby skunks no matter what, to which Jake responds that in that case they’d better recruit the whole team.  

I love this scene for a couple different reasons.  For one thing, it’s refreshing to see Cassie being wrong for once.  In the series as a whole and in this book in particular there are several moments where she makes relatively dumb decisions that end up working out for her anyway (trusting Aftran, refusing to help with Taylor’s plan, letting Tom’s yeerk take the morphing cube, letting Aftran infest her, etc).  In this instance, however, Cassie nearly gets herself trapped in morph over some baby skunks, and she risks her friends’ lives when just a few minutes ago she was angry with Tobias for killing to survive.  She’s wrong, and both she and Jake acknowledge it.  

This scene is also one of the many reasons I ship Cassie and Jake: they call each other out on bad decisions and resolve their differences of opinion through talking things out.  Jake is wrong to dismiss Cassie’s concerns about the logging permits, as he freely admits later in the book.  Cassie is wrong to tell Jake that the fight doesn’t matter in a universe this brutal when (unlike him) she doesn’t have any loved ones on the line in this war.  They discuss their differences of opinion and resolve them.  

Not only do they discuss their disagreement openly, but they also both make concessions.  Cassie agrees that she needs to be a lot more careful in the future, especially with morphing time limits.  Jake agrees that (even though he doesn’t see the point) they’ll “save the lousy skunks” (#9).  They listen to each other and find a solution.  It’s a pattern that comes up several more times over the course of the series: Jake and Cassie are the only ones willing to tell each other when one of them is wrong, but always do so in a way that avoids polarization or passive aggression.  (Rachel and Tobias do not do nearly as well with this kind of conflict resolution when the circumstances arise, but that’s a whole other can of yeerks I’m not going to open here.)  

Jake and Cassie might not have a perfect relationship—it doesn’t even survive the war, and its passion pales in comparison to what Rachel and Tobias have—but they also have a healthy relationship.  Jake mentions a few times that the only time he feels able to drop the whole “I’m the leader, I feel no pain” act is when he’s alone with Cassie.  Cassie agonizes over every major decision they make but also never stops trusting that Jake knows what he’s doing when he makes a tough call.  Their arguments don’t have a single winner, and involve both of them openly confronting each other with their own points of view.  They work to understand each other, since there are a lot of things they do not have in common, and that work might make for less melodrama but also makes for better communication.

Final note: the motif of Visser Three doing dumb shit and none of the human-controllers in the immediate vicinity who must know better correcting him comes up here.  It’s another one of those Little Things that K.A. Applegate uses to speak volumes about why the yeerks lost the war just as much as the Animorphs won it.  This book shows that it’s a bad idea to behead subordinates who disagree with you, because then you end up surrounded by sycophants who never once mention that you just dyed yourself purple for no reason.  

[crankyhamster29]

Tom Dubius Lap Chole Fanfic Chapter 1: Tom Isn't Feeling Well.....

First off, I want to explain why the heck I’m even posting this! On August 6th of 2017, my family and I went out to eat to celebrate my brother’s birthday which had been on July 30th. Unfortunately, I had a gallbladder attack roughly an hour and a half after I finished my meal. My dad and I originally suspected that I may have gotten food poisoning, but nope, it really was a gallbladder attack just like my mom said. For the record, gallbladder attacks are especially likely to strike after fatty meals such as the fried chicken and fries I had. The fact that I was, and still am, chubby as of this post certainly didn’t help matters any, nor does family history of gallbladder trouble. I’m a sucker for Ryuusei no Rockman AKA Megaman Starforce, so I decided to write a fanfic about my favorite character going through what I went through. There will be a grand total of four chapters in my fanfic, and I’m going to be making one corresponding animation for each. It’s going to be several weeks or months before the next part gets posted, so be patient. OK, it’s time to unveil chapter 1 of my fanfic. Thanks for reading and I hope you like it!

Tom Dubius was hard at work in his research lab at AMAKEN, sketching up blueprints for a meteorological satellite scheduled for launch a few months later. He'd also been helping his boss, Aaron Boreal, improve the energy output of a rocket engine still in development. Not only was Tom occupied with those two major projects, he'd been attempting to improve the Star Carrier's ability to materialize everyday objects as well. It was just shy of noon on Wednesday, August 6th, 2217 when he heard a knock on the door of his research lab. “Hey, Tom! What do you say we go out for lunch break today?” Aaron asked his slender coworker. “Come to think of it, Aaron, I am pretty hungry. Let's go!” Tom agreed. Mr. Boreal was happy that his once-paranoid associate had learned the value of friendship, and the pair left the aerospace facility. Aaron and Tom were seated about 5 minutes after arriving at the restaurant, and the waiter promptly took their order. “I love karaage and korokke – they're two of my favorites!” grinned Aaron once their meal was ready. “So do I, but they're kind of..... um, not so healthy.” replied Tom matter-of-factly. “Relax – everything is OK in moderation, Tom!” Aaron reassured his associate. After finishing their food at 12:45 pm, the pair paid the bill and returned to AMAKEN. Unfortunately, at 2:15 pm that afternoon, Mr. Dubius felt quite sick to his stomach! The slender aerospace engineer rushed to the men's bathroom and leaned over the first toilet he came across. “Uuuurrrrfffff..... all systems go for launch..... BLAAARRRGGGHHH! In T minus..... BLAAARRRGGGHHH!” he moaned as he began to vomit. “Th-The t-tower is clear..... BLAAARRRGGGHHH! G-Ground control, we have splashdown..... BLAAARRRGGGHHH!” Tom whined in discomfort. “A-A-Aaron..... I feel terrible..... I think..... I think I have food poisoning!” exclaimed Tom in a fit of panic. “If we both ate the same thing and food poisoning were to blame, I would be sick too. But I feel fine.” Aaron reasoned, frowning at seeing his coworker in such distress. “I just had severe diarrhea and I threw up several times. I'm also experiencing intense pain in my upper right abdomen and in my back on my right side.” Tom elaborated further, looking as green as a cucumber. “This might come as a surprise, Tom, but it sounds like you've just had a gallbladder attack.” Aaron replied. “A-A-A gallbladder attack!? How could that be!? I eat a healthy diet and I'm as skinny as a rail!” Tom sputtered in disbelief. “Th-This makes absolutely no sense at all..... BLAAARRRGGGHHH!” continued the nauseous aerospace engineer before throwing up again. “Tom! Go see a doctor as soon as you can!” Aaron advised his sick associate. “I-I-I'll be fine, Aaron..... I just need to get this bug out of my system..... BLAAARRRGGGHHH!” Mr. Dubius protested before vomiting yet another time. “Tom! You're sick! Go home!” Aaron commanded his subordinate. Tom did just that, and he called the doctor's office for an urgent appointment as soon as he walked in the door. “Hello, sir. How may I help you?” replied the operator on the other end of the phone. “I'd like to schedule an appointment as soon as possible, preferably today.” Tom answered. “I went out to lunch with my boss this afternoon, and I became sick roughly an hour and a half after finishing my meal.” the troubled AMAKEN worker continued. “What sort of symptoms have you been having?” inquired the operator. “I had both severe vomiting and diarrhea as well as intense pain in my back and abdomen on my right side.” Tom answered. “What's your last name, sir?” the person on the other end asked. “Dubius. D-u-b-i-u-s.” the nauseous engineer replied. “You have an appointment on Friday, August 8th at 10 am. I hope you feel better soon, Mr. Dubius.” said the operator. “So do I, thanks. Have a great day, miss.” Tom replied before hanging the phone up. There was one person left for Tom to call, and that was his boss, Aaron. “Hello, Aaron. I have a doctor's appointment this upcoming Friday the 8th at 10 am.” Mr. Dubius explained. “OK, thanks for letting me know. How are you feeling now, Tom?” Mr. Boreal inquired with concern in his voice. “M-Meh. I still feel pretty sick.” Aaron's subordinate answered softly. “Be sure to get plenty of rest, Tom. Take tomorrow off if you still feel nauseous, OK?” Mr. Boreal advised. “Th-Thanks, Aaron. I will.” Mr. Dubius replied before falling fast asleep in bed.

And that’s chapter 1, folks! In the first five frames of my animation, Aaron and Tom are having Japanese fried chicken AKA karaage and potato croquettes AKA korokke. The red cylindrical things are supposed to be traditional Asian lanterns. They’re not spot-on perfect, of course, but they’re not downright shitty, either! In the last 6 frames, the *BLARGH* *BLUGH* *BLEHH* signify poor Tom tossing his cookies while the *glorp* *plorp* *splorp* are Tom unleashing some liquidy number 2 doom upon the unfortunate porcelain throne beneath him. Sorry if that last part was too gross.....! Anyhow, thanks for reading and I’ll try to have part 2 up as soon as possible. Megaman Starforce and its associated characters belong to Capcom.

[typologycentral]

Managing Bias in Military Intelligence

Depth Typology as a Force Multiplier My deployment in Kosovo in 2016 helped me gain a better understanding of how C. G. Jung’s typology can improve intelligence management and intelligence operations. Ninety percent of the problems I experienced resulted from a few common pitfalls that with proper training and planning could have been prevented. These pitfalls included faulty assumptions—a belief one assumes as true even though it is inaccurate and lacks empirical evidence—which are tied to confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out, interpret, prefer, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s beliefs or hypotheses while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities. Because people are especially prone to unconsciously applying their biases when confronted with unfamiliar situations, intelligence operations are particularly vulnerable to such distortions. No one can completely remove his or her subjectivity when analyzing information, but intelligence professionals could certainly improve how effectively they manage and execute intelligence operations by understanding how different types of people construct different operational pictures through cognitive biases.In Kosovo, I witnessed how such biases can grossly distort the command’s understanding of the operational environment (OE), defined as “a composite of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that affect the employment of capabilities and bear on the decisions of the commander” (Department of Defense, 2017, p. 173). The OE consists of all factors that can affect the success of the mission. An inaccurate operational picture degrades the efficacy of the commander’s decision-making process. In such a situation, what often appears is a closed feedback loop. In other words, bias tends to skew reporting, which in turn distorts the commander’s situational understanding of the OE and proceeds to degrade his or her ability to properly identify the critical requirements of the mission. The commander’s lack of situational understanding further reinforces the bias in his subordinates. The cycle of cognitive bias in intelligence operations includes several elements: * Analysts, like all people, are biased; * Intelligence analysts often succumb to group think; * Assumptions are often unconsciously processed as facts due to bias; * Junior analysts are reticent to point out the errors in the thinking of their superiors because of the way the military is structured; * The personality-centric nature of the intelligence field can give rise to interpersonal challenges, preventing the collaboration essential to intelligence analysis; and * Intelligence professionals are prone to let the OE reinforce and confirm their own biases. The cognitive biases that so often beset intelligence operations can be mitigated by the Department of Defense (DoD) in practical and cost-effective ways. Richard Heuer’s classic The Psychology of Intelligence Analysis helps bridge the gulf between intelligence analysis and depth psychology. In this work, Heuer (1999) wrote about “cognitive biases,” which he defined as “mental errors caused by our simplified information processing strategies” (p. 11). One’s typological preferences can exacerbate these biases. A familiarity with Jung’s typology could, however, help check them. For the U. S. intelligence community, typology has the potential to become a force multiplier, that is, “a tangible or intangible variable that increases the combat value and overall capability of a military force” (U. S. Army, 1989, p. 5-1) when planning and conducting military operations in the twenty-first century. Thus, the military needs to do a better job of institutionalizing sound processes and methods to apply checks and balances to cognitive biases. Commanders and their staff could use typology as an effective tool to enhance not only self-awareness but also situational understanding of the OE. Although DoD and the Army have made incremental progress in the application of typology by including it at professional military education institutions (i.e., Command and General Staff Course), the training does not prescribe specific ways to apply type theory to military methodologies such as intelligence preparation of the OE. DoD could support officers and leaders by developing and incorporating more typological applications into its professional education programs. In fact, enhancing self-awareness is the best way, perhaps the only way, to construct an intelligence model that accounts for the subjective human factor, which could have offset the aforementioned problems and would have advanced the intelligence mission in Kosovo during the deployment. The Background The United States has played a leadership role in the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) since 1999. Military intervention in the Kosovo war was authorized by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, which also set the conditions for the demilitarization of Kosovo (Figure 1). The area of operation (AO) has undergone a series of evolutions since it was established. Today KFOR consists of four principal NATO partners—the U. S., Italy, Switzerland, and Turkey. KFOR contingents are currently organized by three joint regional directorates (JRD) and two multinational battle groups (MNBG). The battle groups are functionally organized, not “land owners” in the traditional sense. The JRD commanders control the battle space and are in charge of the AO occupied by the battle groups. Thus, the U. S. commander technically has two commanders: the commander of United States Army Europe and the multinational KFOR commander, who is usually an Italian officer. MNBG-East is the U. S. contingent and is responsible for an AO spanning from the northern administrative boundary line (ABL) to the southern ABL bordering Macedonia. Kosovo itself is about the size of the state of Connecticut. The contemporary example of Kosovo illustrates how much legal precedence, fragile alliances, and cultural fault lines have shaped the emerging world order, especially in Eastern Europe. For example, Spain, a member of NATO, does not acknowledge Kosovo as a country because of how such precedence would affect its historical foreign policy towards the separatist movement in Catalonia. NATO partner Greece, a traditional ally of Serbia, also has expressed no interest in recognizing Kosovo as a sovereign state. Thus, KFOR partners are prohibited from referring to the government of Kosovo but must instead use neutral terms like “institutions in Kosovo.” Additionally, because some KFOR partners do not recognize Kosovo as a country, the boundary between Serbia and Kosovo cannot be referred to as a border. To preserve semantic neutrality, KFOR refers to it as the ABL. Kosovo thus is as much an evolving concept as it is a nascent nation-state due to historical, political, and psychological factors. Intelligence analysts must utilize the sum total of intelligence available in the intelligence community in order to build a more comprehensive and accurate picture of threats and relevant aspects of the operational environment. Intelligence analysts analyze anything in the OE that might adversely impact the commander’s ability to conduct his mission, which in the case of Kosovo means maintaining a safe and secure environment and maintaining freedom of movement throughout the AO. The commander, with the aid of his staff, updates unit level intelligence requirements as needed. These requirements guide the collection effort and should be aligned with the higher headquarters’ priority intelligence requirements (PIR). An “intelligence requirement” is “a priority for intelligence support, that the commander and staff need to understand the adversary or other aspects of the operational environment” (Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2012, p. GL-15). The major analytical engine in the battle group consists of the Analysis and Control Element (ACE), which “performs collection management, produces all-source intelligence, provides SIGINT technical control, produces GEOINT products, and disseminates intelligence and targeting data to the headquarters and subordinate intelligence cells” (U. S. Army, 2014, p. 3-3). The ACE forms the analytical linchpin of long-term predictive analysis and intelligence fusion. Its personnel manage, collate, and convert raw data into useable intelligence products, which analysts may further codify and grasp through the heuristic tool known by the military acronym PMESII-PT (Political, Military, Economic, Social, Infrastructure, Information, Physical Environment, and Time). PMESII-PT is used to break up a complex OE into a manageable number of operational variables. Any one of these variables can influence the commander’s ability to accomplish the mission. Military planners and intelligence officers use PMESII-PT as an analytic starting point for long-term analysis of the OE. By analyzing these variables, the ACE provides an analytic picture for the commander, which enhances his understanding of the OE. Ideally, every analytical assessment will inform the commander’s decision-making process. Typology and Intelligence Jung’s theory of psychological types describes the ways people experience reality and the images (i.e., representations) that make up the phenomenal foreground of human experience. Both perceiving functions and judging functions express themselves either in a dynamic or a static configuration. Jung (1989/2012) described these configurations as follows: “(1) static reality that comes to us through sensation; (2) the dynamic reality revealed by intuition; (3) static images given [to] us by thinking; (4) dynamic images sensed by feeling” (p. 134) (Figure 2). The functions, therefore, could be viewed as the four principal ways the mind relates to the world, or put differently, symbolic gateways that mediate social and environmental interactions. Such a schema suggests one’s simultaneous experience of inner and outer reality and the attendant images that occupy the conscious mind. Sensation and intuition then could be viewed as two distinct modes of perceptual reality. Sensation suggests a static reality of actuality whereas intuition describes a dynamic reality of possibility. Because the former and latter are perceiving functions and occur spontaneously in the background, one does not need to judge to use them. Conversely, thinking and feeling come to us as quanta of conscious experience in both fixed and dynamic configurations. Jung (1927/1970) considered thinking a “process of recognition” (¶ 290). Thinking recognizes, orders, and compares the datum of experience from apperception—“a psychic process by which a new content is articulated with similar, already existing contents in such a way that it becomes understood, apprehended, or ‘clear’” (Jung, 1921/1971, ¶ 683). Thus, thinking by its very nature is an apperceptive activity. For instance, when it sees a fire, the conscious mind associates the sight of fire with the primordial “experience” (i.e., image) of fire. That is to say, thinking acknowledges fire for what it is and what it means, which is essentially a form of recognition. Feeling, on the other hand, is a process of evaluation. Feeling assigns the image a value. Categorizing the fire as a class of experience is only part of the equation. Feeling complements thinking by telling us whether the phenomenon is good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, or whether it should be accepted or rejected. Of course, thinking and feeling do not occur sequentially but take place simultaneously and in varying degrees depending on the individual’s innate typological preferences. Because thinking and feeling presuppose a conscious experience, they occur in the foreground as contents of awareness. Both are predicated on an experience: a fire, a kiss, etc. However, while thinking implies a static image (i.e., a concept), feeling presupposes a dynamic one (i.e., a value). Jung’s description of a dynamic and fixed subset of the functions suggests a useful way to apply typology to intelligence methodologies. Intelligence operations are conducted by following a five-step process: 1) planning and directing, 2) collection, 3) processing, 4) analysis and production, and 5) dissemination (Figure 3). Each step requires the use of the four functions in varying degrees. * Leaders must first plan and direct by seeking answers about what will best advance the mission. Such questions entail determining not only what success means and looks like but also what the desired end state should be, which necessitates a value judgment and hence feeling. Thus, Jung’s functions, especially the two judging modes, figure prominently into intelligence work. * While there are two ways to collect information, sensation and intuition, intelligence collectors are largely dependent on sensation, using their eyes and ears or extending their observational reach through technical means. The information is gained through various sources to include human, signal, and geospatial. Although the military privileges sensation, intuition plays an essential role in the process as well—a role which is just as important as sensation yet rarely mentioned in military intelligence doctrine. Extraverted intuition (Ne), for example, shapes the collector’s perception of patterns and connections in the environment. * This raw information is processed and subsequently analyzed and published as an intelligence product. During this “analysis and production” phase of the intelligence cycle, the analyst apportions meaning to the information and generates an assessment. This step is arguably the most important one in the intelligence cycle because the judging functions interpret the information and put it in rational terms. Both thinking and feeling are required to produce a balanced and relevant assessment. * Finally, the intelligence is disseminated to the intelligence community and policy-makers, who apply their own interpretation. What follows is further feedback and inquiry about the meaning and value of the reporting in a cyclical process. This may all seem straightforward. However, the intelligence cycle rarely proceeds in a linear fashion, and analysts must continuously update their assessments when confronted with new information. Analysts should constantly guard themselves against analytical pitfalls, such as succumbing to cognitive bias or yielding to group think, which often occurs in the echo chamber of intelligence analysis. The analytic consensus that arises as a result of group think can easily lead to inaccurate assessments, which are reinforced by analysts who share the same typological preferences. Majority support for a hypothesis does not make it correct. Intelligence as Interpretation Consciousness in its two judging modes (i.e., thinking and feeling) is essentially a hermeneutic undertaking. That is to say, every conscious act, whether it is sorting abstract data or coming to grips with a complex social problem, involves interpretation. Intelligence, too, is to some degree a hermeneutic enterprise in that it requires the interpretation of information. Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 2-0, the Army’s manual on intelligence, defines intelligence as “the product resulting from the collection, processing, integration, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation [italics added] of available information concerning foreign nations, hostile or potentially hostile forces or elements, or areas of actual or potential operations” (U. S. Army, 2012, p. 1). Thus, intelligence, like thinking and feeling, involves the recognition and evaluation of information. A careful review of the etymology of the word “interpret” suggests that the object of analysis is translated or converted from information to intelligence through the faculties of thinking and feeling. The word’s Latin roots, inter- and per-, suggest a trafficking or exchange of information which thereby “renders [the object of analysis] clear or explicit” (Interpret, 2017). When analysts interpret a complex problem, they tend to use their preferred judging function, which will slant their assessments toward thinking or feeling. Although the emphasis is always on objectivity, the preferred judging function tends to guide the interpretation of the information given. A quality-of-information or relevancy check can help counter the bias present in typological preferences as long as the intelligence supervisor is aware of his own typological tendencies. An approach combining self-awareness and professionalism is really the best way to identify unconscious biases and properly contextualize the information. Although Heuer does not explicitly mention Jung’s theories, his descriptions could just as well form a basic overview of Jung’s typology. Heuer (1999) highlighted the observer’s role in determining what is observed and how it is interpreted: People construct their own version of “reality” on the basis of information provided by the senses, but this sensory input is mediated by complex mental processes that determine which information is attended to, how it is organized, and the meaning attributed to it. What people perceive, how readily they perceive it, and how they process this information after receiving it are all strongly influenced by past experience, education, cultural values, role requirements, and organizational norms, as well as by the specifics of the information received. (p. 4)Jung’s (1935/1976) description of the structure of the psyche suggested a similar view: The psyche consists not only of the contents of consciousness, which derive from sensory impressions, but also of ideas apparently based on perceptions which have been modified in a peculiar way by preexistent and unconscious formative factors, i.e., by the archetypes. The psyche can therefore be said to consist of consciousness plus the unconscious. This leads us to conclude that one part of the psyche is explicable in terms of recent causes, but that another part reaches back into the deepest layers of our racial history. (¶ 1232)Although articulated differently, both viewpoints suggest that people are born with innate unconscious tendencies of psychic functioning shaped by collective experience. Heuer (1999) further observed that “Intelligence analysts should be self-conscious about their reasoning process. They should think about how they make judgments and reach conclusions, not just about the judgments and conclusions themselves” (p. 31). Heuer is describing a critical mindset that can overcome the unconscious mental-models that inhibit our reasoning. Carol Dweck’s (2016) contention that there are two principal mindsets, fixed and growth, seems to support Heuer’s viewpoint in that he too draws distinctions between different kinds of mindsets. Whereas a fixed mindset inhibits one’s potential, the growth mindset “is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help from others” (p. 7). The essential difference between these two mindsets is the degree by which the individual can consciously exercise and apply his functions to the task at hand or know when to rely on another person whose typology is better suited to tackle the problem. One could equate the process to perceiving the world through a lens or screen that distorts the images that are produced. To achieve the clearest picture of Kosovo, for instance, analysts need more than information on Kosovo. They also need to understand their own lenses through which this information passes. These lenses are variously called mental models, mind-sets, frames, biases, or analytical assumptions (p. 4). The CIA (2009) has defined these so-called lenses as “experience-based constructs of assumptions and expectations both about the world in general and more specific domains,” adding that, “These constructs strongly influence what information analysts will accept—that is, data that are in accordance with analysts’ unconscious mental models are more likely to be perceived and remembered than information that is at odds with them” (p. 1). Different assumptions may lead to different interpretations and intelligence assessments, which are not always based on fact. For example, during my first tour in Kosovo, a reporting stream surfaced that indicated an attack on Camp Bondsteel. Islamic extremists were believed to have radicalized the subject of the reporting. Although it is important to take such reports seriously and try to corroborate the information therein, since September 11, 2001, many Americans have become sensitized to the effects of terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Islam and have tended to jump to conclusions about the likelihood of such attacks happening again. In one case, a person proposed the hypothesis that the subject intended to use an airplane to target Camp Bondsteel, even though no reporting substantiated such a tactic. Thus, assumptions are often unconsciously processed as facts due to biases. Intelligence analysts need to ensure that they clearly define and specify the difference between an inference and an assumption and not be afraid to professionally point out errors in the thinking of their superiors. In intelligence operations, everyone, regardless of rank or position, should aspire to understand his or her own biases and cultivate an environment that encourages candid input and feedback. Military intelligence is a personality-centric career field because of its reliance on the subjective factor, which tends to creep into every intelligence assessment regardless of how analytically rigorous it attempts to be. Analysts are innately biased and differ in their typological tendencies. To help reduce bias, intelligence professionals have developed brainstorming analytic techniques so that an analytical cell can offset individual biases. By arranging an analytical team into pairs or groups of soldiers, one can theoretically establish a broader and more comprehensive picture (or analysis) of a complex problem and proceed to draw clearer lines of effort with the assistance of the commander’s staff. If these cells were intentionally constructed with personnel with contrasting typologies, their capacity for correcting for cognitive biases could be greatly enhanced. Cross-type collaboration is essential to intelligence analysis in that it fosters a better understanding of the typological differences present within a team as well as guarding against individual biases. When the bias of leaders clouds the judgment of subordinates, the entire intelligence cycle could be derailed and intelligence assessments skewed dramatically. Military leaders, especially commanders and their staff, frame the underlying problem of the operational environment. The commander, for instance, seeks to articulate the requirements he needs to successfully accomplish the mission’s objectives. At the same time, the staff attempts to help the commander define what factors may deter him from accomplishing those goals. If staff members do not properly brief their commander about the main characteristics of the OE, or if a biased commander does not heed recommendations supported by empirical data, intelligence can no longer effectively drive operations. What follows is a circular feedback loop wherein the unit’s intelligence section fails to ask the right questions or unnecessarily injects the commander’s own biased assumptions into the collection and production steps of the intelligence cycle. In order to avoid these pitfalls, intelligence analysts should always consider a few important questions: What is the source of the information? Is the source reliable? Is the information corroborated by another intelligence discipline? Did the collector properly interpret the source of information? What are the underlying assumptions and implications of the information presented? Is the information relevant to the intelligence mission? Is the source biased? What technical considerations are there for the proper interpretation of the information? If the information originated in a foreign language, was it properly translated? Accordingly, a critical mindset comprised of an understanding of the functional variations of consciousness can improve the quality of intelligence production and reduce the effects of bias. A Tale of Two Types: INTJ vs. ISFJ Typological differences can create iconfirmnterpersonal challenges. An anecdote from my deployment illustrates how these differences can degrade the entire intelligence cycle. One of the staff officers in the battle group was self-assessed as an ISFJ, whereas I have INTJ preferences (Figure 4). Of the sixteen MBTI® types, ISFJs are often considered the “protectors.” As the name suggests, their preference for sensation and feeling makes them optimally suited to nurture, and it is no coincidence that the ISFJ staff officer had worked as a nurse in his civilian job. Notwithstanding our different worldviews and life experience, our typologies were in opposition. My extraverted thinking (Te), the way I typically deal with the external world and situations, was at odds with his extraverted feeling (Fe). Whereas I first asked where things were going and whether they were true or false, the other officer first examined the immediate history of the problem and considered how it affected people. ISFJs (introverted sensing and extraverted feeling) are largely driven by value judgments whereas INTJs (introverted intuiting and extraverted thinking) tend to base their decisions primarily on their objective analysis of cause and effect. For example, the other staff officer preoccupied himself with the potential human impact of a terrorist attack in Kosovo. Even though it had never happened, the remote chance that it could dominated his attention. Conversely, I relied on the likelihood of a kinetic attack taking place in Kosovo, which was assessed as low, so I was not concerned about it. It is common for feeling types to perceive thinking types as cold and aloof and equally common for thinking types to perceive feeling types as irrational and emotional. In my opinion, the staff officer’s strong sense of values colored and distorted his assessment of the operational environment. However, an INTJ’s character traits can be problematic at times in such a field as well. For instance, my preference for statistical probabilities tended to minimize the importance of the human aspect of the OE, which admittedly was the principal reason KFOR was established. INTJs are sometimes so focused on achieving the set goal that they neglect to assess the implications of the methods they use to achieve that goal. According to type theorists Leona Haas and Mark Hunziker (2011), a key feature of extraverted feeling types is their desire to “create or maintain harmony in the environment” (p. 94). Thus, the other staff officer evaluated and sought cooperation while I tried to implement objective standards for recognizing information of intelligence value, which could advance the mission per the commander’s PIRs. Our auxiliary function-attitudes constituted two different styles of decision-making. I aimed to maximize efficiency by creating an impersonal system of logical processes and he tried to minimize uncertainty by maximizing harmony in the work environment. My extraverted thinking contrasted sharply with his extraverted feeling to the point that it had an adverse effect on the entire intelligence enterprise due to the interpersonal friction it created. Although we were both introverts, we were different in nearly every other way. John Beebe’s eight function-attitude model further highlights these oppositions. For example, my dominant function-attitude, introverted intuition (Ni), coincided with his eighth and lowest, which in Beebe’s model corresponds with the archetype of the demon/daimon. The demon/daimon is usually the least conscious of the archetypes in Beebe’s system, and it has both destructive and creative aspects depending on how well the personality integrates its latent energy. Conversely, his dominant function-attitude, introverted sensation (Si), coincided with the demonic archetype in my own typology. These stark typological contrasts seem to have had a detrimental effect on our ability to communicate, making our relationship awkward. It was as if our energies clashed rather than converged. If we had worked harder to consciously recognize the value in our differences, we could have likely invoked the daimonic or creative aspect of the eighth function rather than the demonic or destructive one. Moreover, my auxiliary extraverted thinking was his seventh function-attitude, which is represented by the archetype of the trickster. The trickster addresses issues concerning manipulation and paradox (Beebe as cited in Hunziker, 2016, p. 171). Conversely, his auxiliary function mirrored my own typology in that my extraverted feeling has trickster-like qualities. Because our auxiliary functions governed how we related to the external processes of the intelligence profession, it is not surprising that they (thinking vs. feeling) were a source of conflict during the deployment. It would not be correct to say that one of us was wrong; rather we were looking at the same problem through different typological lenses. For example, he considered “unemployment” to be the principal driver of instability in Kosovo. I felt that the high unemployment was symptomatic of a more fundamental problem, interethnic tension, which seemed related to the continuous conflict I observed in Kosovo’s dysfunctional political system. My assessment was based on extraverted thinking while his assessment stemmed from his extraverted feeling. He focused on the problems that he saw as most directly affecting people’s daily lives. I, on the other hand, focused on the behavior of political structures and systems because their effects are more demonstrable. One could say that each of us constructed only a partial picture of the situation, not unlike the well-known parable of the three blind men and the elephant, where each man feels a different part of the elephant’s body, producing three different conclusions about what the elephant is, what it means, and whether it is a pleasant or an unpleasant experience. Only together can they form a near complete picture of the elephant. Jung similarly described this problem in Psychological Types while discussing the differences between Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic approach and his own psychological theory, a phenomenon he called “the personal equation.” Jung (1921/1971) suggested that “the effect of the personal equation begins already in the act of observation” (¶ 9) and that “one sees what one can best see oneself” (¶ 10). Accordingly, the personal equation gives rise to a subjective prejudice that the individual is mostly unconscious of. One cannot overestimate the extent by which the personal equation colors intelligence assessments. Intelligence is not merely based on logical deductions, but also on value judgments, the territory of the feeling function. Likewise, intelligence can arise from a subjective insight, intuition, as much as from quantitative data, sensation. The personal equation is present in every observation and every statement we make. Acceptance and understanding of type dynamics presents a way that can help diminish, but not eliminate, the effects of the personal equation. In the field of typology, the concept of temperament also plays an important role in distinguishing cognitive styles. INTJs and ISFJs have different temperaments, and according to the model developed by Keirsey (1998), we may view observable clusters of behavior as activity patterns. Keirsey’s model links the four distinct temperaments—SJ-Guardians, SP-Artisans, NF-Idealists, and NT-Rationalists—to the sixteen MBTI types. INTJs belong to the class of Rationalists whereas ISFJs belong to the class of Guardians. That Rationalists and Guardians exhibit propensities for different leadership styles confirms the stark differences I noted between me and the other staff officer. Hirsh and Kummerow (1998) described the leadership style of Guardians as traditionalist and the leadership style of Rationalists as visionary (p. 8). The staff officer and I simply had opposing viewpoints about what constitutes effective leadership, and it was not that either of us was wrong, but merely different. For example, the ISFJ major faithfully relied on conventional military doctrine. Accordingly, he attempted to apply a force-on-force construct to the Kosovo OE. Such an approach understandably had mixed results in that Kosovo is not a conventional OE. The ISFJ leader tends to seek out practical solutions based on past experience to even the most complex of problems. The drawback is that in Kosovo, there was no straightforward precedent and no simple solution to any problem, no matter how thoroughly one had developed and applied empirical methods to the OE. INTJs, on the other hand, are very effective at thinking outside of the box and conceptualizing a model applicable to an OE like Kosovo. The drawback, however, is that such a leadership type often fails to clearly articulate the overarching intelligence strategy to his peers. INTJs are highly capable of finding solutions to complex problems, but they encounter challenges when trying to obtain buy-in to an idea. The INTJ has the tendency to assume that because he grasps the idea, everyone else should also. A leader cannot succeed if he fails to clearly articulate task, purpose, and end state to his team. We both wanted the same thing, but merely applied different methods to achieving that goal. If we had studied Keirsey’s model prior to the deployment and recognized that there is virtue in intellectual diversity, we could have aligned our leadership styles in a way that more effectively moved the mission toward a common objective. Such coordination, however, requires a superlative degree of psychological maturity on the part of military leaders. Given our temperamental differences, it is not surprising that we approached problems differently. If we had consciously coordinated our typological preferences, we would have been far more effective at analyzing and assessing the OE. Hirsh and Kummerow (1998) have underscored this approach, suggesting that INTJs should consider the input of feeling types and the sensory details required to make their vision a reality in their work (p. 22). Conversely, ISFJs should sometimes rely on the analytical logic of thinking types and entertain possibilities and alternate interpretations (p. 14). Another pitfall I observed in Kosovo was the propensity for some intelligence personnel to let the OE reinforce and confirm their own biases. People sometimes try to make the facts conform to their perceived value rather than adjust their value to the facts, which results in a fixed mindset. Wahhabism and Salafism are two of the stricter variants of Islam which adhere to a more traditional practice of the religion. The staff officer’s ISFJ tendencies unconsciously raised unnecessary and inaccurate assumptions about the two sects, who represented an extremely small cross-section of the population. Fundamentalist practitioners of Islam were eventually labeled Islamic extremists, which as a term is difficult to define. In the absence of precise language and collaborative assessments (competing hypotheses), the feeling function can distort intelligence. This phenomenon is related to Jung’s (1921/1971) concept of projections—“the expulsion of a subjective content into an object” (¶ 783). Jung contended that everything unconscious is projected (¶ 212). Hunziker (2016) has observed that “projections distort relationships, identity, and information” (p. 99). Most people, including trained intelligence professionals, unknowingly project their own unconscious contents into the environment. The ISFJ staff officer tended to see Kosovo through his own lens without examining the nature of that lens, which in my opinion, often significantly skewed his analysis. In all fairness, my two previous deployments in the Balkans had prepared me to confront and understand the problem of Islamic extremism. I was sufficiently sensitized to the situation by already having had extensive experience analyzing Islamic extremism in the Balkans, yet some could have viewed my reliance on logical deduction and my decision to take a calculated risk as a pitfall in itself. An extraverted thinker tends to rely on objective data while seeking out logical conclusions. Jung (1921/1971) suggested that extraverted thinking types often subordinate their thinking to an intellectual formula, which presents itself as a general rule (¶ 585). The extraverted thinking type may overlook information inconsistent with his empirical experience. In fact, he can project his intellectual formula into the intelligence process, which may compel him to exclude plausible hypotheses. What if, for instance, Islamic terrorists were in fact planning a terrorist attack on Camp Bondsteel? One could argue that my extraverted thinking was not sufficient for assessing the scope or magnitude of the problem. Few can deny that there is a legitimate problem with Islamic extremism in the contemporary world, which subsumes the Balkans. Thus, the other staff officer’s fears were not altogether misplaced. Only by working consciously in concert with one another would it have been possible to take full advantage of the functions in practice to overcome our biases. Introductory typology training could have helped check these biases. Recommendations It is fairly common for intelligence professionals to not recognize their own innate typological preferences and the type dynamics that arise when building an intelligence enterprise comprised of different cognitive styles. Although the Department of Defense has made progress at closing the gap between intelligence analytic methods and depth psychology, considerable work stills needs to be done. DoD has taken major strides at senior leader professional development programs such as the Command and General Staff College and the U. S. Army Sergeants Major Academy, but initial entry training courses do not include any blocks of instruction on typology in their curriculum. DoD thus can do much more to enhance the self-awareness of intelligence professionals, including considering depth typology a potential force multiplier. DoD should revisit the theories of C. G. Jung, in particular his typological system, to overcome what has been called the “mind-set” challenge (Central Intelligence Agency, 2009, p. 1). Awareness of Jung’s typology, with its emphasis on the personal equation, can help compensate for the limitations of the human mind. Cognitive bias is a perennial problem in intelligence analysis. Most DoD certified operational psychologists who advise military commanders possess limited understanding of what Hunziker (2016) has called depth typology: a holistic typology that seeks to understand the whole personality including both its conscious and unconscious aspects (p. 4). By introducing a revamped and practical program of instruction on type theory and application, DoD can significantly improve its analytic tradecraft. Intelligence professionals need to recognize their own innate typological preferences and the type dynamics that arise when building an intelligence enterprise comprised of different cognitive styles. Thinking through a problem is not enough to identify its solution. Rather, the intelligence community should be able to exercise and understand all functions of consciousness to challenge the underlying assumptions which often make intelligence analysis problematic. The military could also work closely with Jungian analysts and type theorists to design a protocol to evaluate intelligence professionals. Mandating the administration of the MBTI or a similar typological instrument during pre-deployment training could further enhance self-awareness and promote professionalism. The availability during deployment of a coach or mentor familiar with Jung’s theories and typology would add value to classroom instruction through continuous refinement of its practical application. Heuer (1999) echoed a similar approach when he suggested “training will be more effective if supplemented with ongoing advice and assistance. An experienced coach who can monitor and guide ongoing performance is a valuable supplement to classroom instruction in many fields, probably including intelligence analysis” (p. 179). A precise yet comprehensive manual or smart book detailing the tendencies and preferences of different types could also improve the quality of intelligence products in both training scenarios and real-world environments. The military could develop typological training aids and combine them with empirical methodologies that have demonstrated their reliability and efficacy in the field. The importance of the role of the analyst in intelligence production cannot be overstated. An analyst who can see his own biases and separate them from his analysis and production will yield a more accurate assessment. At all echelons, to make sound and effective decisions, commanders require quality intelligence, which in turn drives the operations needed to successfully accomplish the mission. DoD’s investment in depth typology could mitigate the cognitive bias in practical and cost-effective ways. --- References: Central Intelligence Agency. (2009). A tradecraft primer: Structured analytic techniques for improving intelligence analysis. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...ay-4-2009.html Central Intelligence Agency, Center for the Study of Intelligence. (n.d.). Kosovo. Retrieved from Central Intelligence Agency [US] website: https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/kv.html Dweck, C. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. Department of Defense. (2017). DOD dictionary of military and associated terms. Washington, DC: Joint Staff, J-7. Haas, L. & Hunziker, M. (2011). Building blocks of personality type: A guide to discovering the hidden secrets of the personality type code. Temecula, CA: TypeLabs. Heuer, R. (1999). The psychology of intelligence analysis. Langley, VA: Central Intelligence Agency. Hirsh, S. & Kummerow, J. (1998). Introduction to type in organizations. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. Hunziker, M. (2016). Depth typology: C. G. Jung, Isabel Myers, John Beebe and the guide map to becoming who we are. Clayton, NC: Write Way Publishing Company. Interpret. (2017). In Online etymology dictionary. Retrieved from http://etymonline.com/index.php?term...wed_in_frame=0 Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2012). JP 2-01: Joint and national intelligence support to military operations. Joint Staff Pentagon Washington, D. C. 20318–7000 Jung, C. G. (1921/1971). Psychological types (CW 6). H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.). (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Jung, C. G. (1927/1970). The structure and dynamics of the psyche (CW 8). H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.). (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Jung, C. G. (1935/1976). The symbolic life (CW 18). H. Read et al. (Eds.). (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Jung, C. G. (1989/2012). Introduction to Jungian psychology: Notes on the seminar on analytical psychology given in 1925. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Keirsey, D. (1998). Please understand me two: Temperament, character, intelligence. Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company. U.S. Army (1989). FM 100-20: Military operations in low intensity conflict. Washington, DC: Headquarters, Department of the Army. U.S. Army. (2012). ADP 2-0: Intelligence. Washington, DC: Headquarters, Department of the Army. U.S. Army. (2014). FM 2-0: Intelligence operations. Washington, DC: Headquarters, Department of the Army. Images: Balla, G. (1913). Iridescent compenetration. Retrieved from upload.wikimedia.org Gris, J. (1913). NOT DETECTED. Retrieved from wikiart.org Larionov, M. (1910). Velimir Khlebnikov. Retrieved from upload.wikimedia.org Popova, L. (1912). Air man space (detail). Retrieved from upload.wikimedia.org Sironi, M. (1922). Paesaggio urbano. Retrieved from wikiart.org The post Managing Bias in Military Intelligence appeared first on Personality Type in Depth. RSS Feed - Link To Personality Type In Depth Article https://www.typologycentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93829&goto=newpost&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

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Wellbeing and Identity Research

Defining Wellbeing; -The state of being comfortable, healthy or happy -Types of wellbeing include physical and emotional, drawing into a persons health (mind, body and soul)

Defining Identity; - The fact of being who or what a person or thing is - about belonging - Drawing into personal aspects, who each individual identifies themselves as or who others identify you as

I am very interested in developing my idea around human wellbeing and identity within the environment as we have been exploring and developing a site up Mount Victoria. Day in day out we are constantly surrounded by differing environments and without knowing, they influence our behaviour. This article articulates the relationship between humans and the environment and what is meant/differing conceptions of ‘Wellbeing’ 

HUMAN WELL BEING AND THE ENVIRONMENT (ARTICLE)

For sustainable development to be achieved, links between the environment and development must be examined. It is also important to consider the end point of development: human well being. The evolution of ideas on development has made this concept central to the policy debate. This idea, and the state of the environment are strongly interlinked. Establishing how environmental changes have impacts, and showing the importance of environment to humans, is the focus of this discussion. Defining human well being

Defining human well being is not easy, due to alternative views on what it means. Simply put, human well being can be classified according to three views, each of which has different implications for the environment:

– The resources people have, such as money and other assets. Wealth is seen as conducive to well-being. This view is closely linked to the concept of weak sustainability, which argues that environmental losses can be compensated for by increases in physical capital (machines) (So low 1991). The environment can only contribute to development as a means to promote economic growth. – How people feel about their lives (their subjective views). Individuals’ assessments of their own living conditions take into account the intrinsic importance that environment has for life satisfaction. According to this view, people value the environment for its traditional or cultural aspects (Diener 2000, Frey and Stutzer 2005). – What people are able to be and to do. This view focuses on what the environment allows individuals to be and to do (Sen 1985, Sen 1992, Sen 1999). It points out that the environment provides the basis for many benefits, such as proper nourishment, avoiding unnecessary morbidity and premature mortality, enjoying security and self-respect, and taking part in the life of the community. The environment is appreciated beyond its role as income generator, and its impacts on human well being are seen as multidimensional. 

Human well-being is the extent to which individuals have the ability and the opportunity to live the kinds of lives they have reason to value. People’s ability to pursue the lives that they value is shaped by a wide range of instrumental freedoms. Human well-being encompasses personal and environmental security, access to materials for a good life, good health and good social relations, all of which are closely related to each other, and underlie the freedom to make choices and take action:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or illness. Good health not only includes being strong and feeling well, but also freedom from avoidable disease, a healthy physical environment, access to energy, safe water and clean air. What one can be and do include among others, the ability to keep fit, minimize health related stress, and ensure access to medical care.

Material needs relate to access to ecosystem goods-and-services. The material basis for a good life includes secure and adequate livelihoods, income and assets, enough food and clean water at all times, shelter, clothing, access to energy to keep warm and cool, and access to goods.

Security relates to personal and environmental security. It includes access to natural and other resources, and freedom from violence, crime and wars (motivated by environmental drivers), as well as security from natural and human-caused disasters.

Social relations refer to positive characteristics that define interactions among individuals, such as social cohesion, reciprocity, mutual respect, good gender and family relations, and the ability to help others and provide for children. Increasing the real opportunities that people have to improve their lives requires addressing all these components. This is closely linked to environmental quality and the sustainability of ecosystem services. Therefore, an assessment of the impact of the environment on individuals’ well-being can be done by mapping the impact of the environment.


The evolution of these ideas has progressed from the first to the third, with increasing importance being given to the real opportunities that people have to achieve what they wish to be and to do. This new understanding of human well being and the environment has several important aspects. First, multidimensionality is viewed as an important feature of human well being. Consequently, the impact of the environment on human well being is seen according to many different dimensions.

 Second, autonomy is considered a defining feature of people, and of well-being. Autonomy can be defined broadly as allowing people to make individual or collective choices. In other words, to know whether an individual is well requires considering his or her resources, subjective views, and the ability to choose and act. This concept of human well-being highlights the importance of understanding whether individuals are simply passive spectators of policy interventions, or, in fact, active agents of their own destiny.

Context of human well being

The potential for individuals, communities and nations to make their own choices, and maximize opportunities to achieve security and good health, meet material needs and maintain social relations is affected by many interlinked factors, such as poverty, inequality and gender. It is important to note how these factors relate to each other, and to the environment. You might be interested in an informative paper on human rights and climate change. 

Poverty and inequality

Poverty is understood as a deprivation of basic freedoms. It implies a low level of well-being, with such outcomes as poor health, premature mortality and morbidity, and illiteracy. It is usually driven by inadequate control over resources, discrimination (including by race or gender), and lack of access to material assets, health care and education (UN 2004).

Inequality refers to the skewed distribution of an object of value, such as income, medical care or clean water, among individuals or groups. Unequal access to environmental resources remains an important source of inequality among individuals.

Equity is the idea that a social arrangement addresses equality in terms of something of value. Distributive analysis is used to assess features of human well-being that are unequally distributed among individuals according to arbitrary factors, such as gender, age, religion and ethnicity. When an analysis of this distribution focuses on its lower end, it refers to poverty.

Mobility

When seen in a dynamic perspective, inequality and poverty are better understood through the concepts of social mobility and vulnerability. Mobility relates to the ability of people to move from one social group, class or level to another. Environmental degradation may be responsible for locking individuals within low mobility paths, limiting opportunities to improve their own well-being.

Vulnerability

Vulnerability involves a combination of exposure and sensitivity to risk, and the inability to cope or adapt to environmental change. Most often, the poor are more vulnerable to environmental change. Broad patterns of vulnerability to environmental and socio-economic changes can be identified so that policy-makers can respond, providing opportunities for reducing vulnerability, while protecting the environment.

Gender inequality

An analysis of distributive impacts of the environment on human well-being cannot ignore features such as gender. Gender inequality is one of the most persistent inequalities in both developed and developing countries, with the majority of people living in poverty being women (UNDP 2005b). Women and girls often carry a disproportionate burden from environmental degradation compared to men. Understanding the position of women in society, and their relationship with the environment is essential for promoting development. In many cases, women and girls assume greater responsibilities for environmental management, but have subordinate positions in decision making (Braidotti and others 1994). Women need to be at the centre of policy responses (Agarwal 2000). At the same time, it is important to avoid stereotyping these roles, and to base responses on the complexities of local realities (Cleaver 2000).




Women and girls bear the brunt of collecting fuelwood, tasks made harder by environmental degradation. Credit: UNEP Fourth Global Environment Outlook – Christian Lambrechts 


Environmental change and human well-being

One of the main findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is that the relationship between human well being and the natural environment is mediated by services provided by ecosystems.

Ecosystem services include provisioning services, such as food and water;regulating services, such as flood and disease control; cultural services, such as spiritual, recreational and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.

Changes to these services, as a result of changes in the environment, affect human well-being through impacts on security, basic material for a good life, health, and social and cultural relations (MA 2003). All people – rich and poor, urban and rural, and in all regions – rely on natural capital.

The world’s poorest people depend primarily on environmental goods-and-services for their livelihoods, which make them particularly sensitive and vulnerable to environmental changes (WRI 2005). Furthermore, many communities in both developing and developed countries derive their income from environmental resources, which include fisheries, non-timber forest products and wildlife.

  Source: United Nations Environment Programme, 2007, Fourth Global Environment Outlook: environment for development Assessment Report, pages 45-49, http://www.unep.org/geo/geo4/report/GEO-4_Report_Full_en2.pdf.